GARETH Thomas, pictured, one of Wales' most senior players, has spoken of his devastation at Sunday's 36-15 defeat by Ireland at Lansdowne Road yesterday.

It was a major setback for Wales after their encouraging Six Nations opening day victory over Scotland and their World Cup games against New Zealand and England.

They were brought crashing down to earth and conceded six tries against a rampaging Irish side while scoring two late consolation efforts themselves.

They now face even tougher tests against France and world champions England at the Millennium Stadium and Twickenham on March 7 and 20, respectively.

"I'm gutted, it was devastating and I still can't put my finger on what went wrong," said 74-times capped Thomas who needs one more try to equal Ieuan Evans' Welsh record of 33. "We'll have to analyse things and move on. We've come a long way in a few months, but we took our foot off the pedal," he said.

"But we have to go on, we can't go back into our shells, we've come too far as a team and too far as mates to let this slide."

Thomas appealed to fans to support the side and not get on their backs after such a defeat.

"I just hope people don't get too hysterical about the result. If the whole of Wales comes down hard on us because we've lost it would be tough on the boys," he said.

"Ther's not time to dwell, we have to look forward to the France game. It's a big bonus it's at home, we had fantastic support at the stadium against Scotland, hopefully that will be repeated.

"With all credit to Ireland, they performed well and put in a defensive forward effort to set it up for game breakers like Brian O'Driscoll."