Dan Lydiate has revealed that head coach Warren Gatland spoke closely to his Wales players following the heavy defeat against Ireland two weeks ago.

The flanker was criticised along with his teammates after the 26-3 loss at the Aviva Stadium, though Lydiate was offered the chance to redeem himself against France this weekend.

"[Gatland] did speak to me, and rightly so, and it's not a nice thing to hear off your coach, but 'Gats' has always been honest with his players," the Racing Metro player is quoted as saying by Yahoo! Sport. "I would rather be told, than talked about and not be told.

"[Gatland] always has chats with players. He might just pull you to the side and ask how you are feeling. It's not unusual. To be honest, from the final whistle in Dublin we were hurting that bad. We let a lot of people down - the public and ourselves.

"We are just thankful that 'Gats' gave us another chance to prove ourselves. But it is just one game, and we have to build on this now going into a big match up at Twickenham."

Wales are third in the Six Nations table after three games, locked on points with England, Ireland and France.