THE LEINSTER head coach, Michael Cheika, has characterised as "bitter" and "deeply disappointing" the attack of his friend David Knox on players and coaches in Leinster and Munster as well as Irish rugby in general.

Cheika responded yesterday to the extreme and occasionally distasteful opinions expressed in print and on radio by Knox - who as back-line coach with Leinster was Cheika's colleague - and said Knox knew as early as last January he would not be part of the Leinster set-up beyond this season.

"At the end of the day I decided a while ago - it was January - that he (Knox) wouldn't be staying this year. I don't think he was really in to it from a living point of view and I went and I had a conversation with Alan (Gaffney) about coming here.

"So I think he is probably bitter because we didn't renew him for next season. I don't want to get into the gutter about this but it is important for people to know how we think. If that is his way then it is very disappointing to us.

"The big word here is disappointing and it is disappointing to me and disappointing to the players. We've been friends for quite a while but you know I'm not sure about what the point of it was. I think that in time he will feel that he has let himself down.

"There is not much you can do but I believe that in the long term he will regret it."

Cheika, who leaves Ireland today for a break in Australia, also said the views expressed to him by Knox after the Magners League game between Leinster and Munster, which Leinster won, were not the same as those criticisms Knox aired yesterday.

Knox said that game, as well as most of the rugby played here, was poor, that he was "amazed" Irish people seemed not to mind how bad the rugby was and that poor matches had been the staple diet of supporters in Ireland for years.

"No substance whatsoever to that," said Cheika. "When a tight game occurs (like Munster v Leinster) the good teams play each other to win and that's the way we go about it.

"He knows that's not right. I spoke to him after that match against Munster and that was not his reaction then.

"But he is independent now and those are his views. He said them with that bitter taste in his mouth and there is no gain for anyone here, not even him.

"Alan coming to Leinster next season and the next stage of progress - it is probably hard for him not to be part of that."

Cheika also said his views on Declan Kidney getting the Ireland coaching job were diametrically opposite to those of Knox.

Knox alleged Brian O'Driscoll said he had learned nothing under Kidney when the Munsterman was briefly coach of Leinster.

Knox also said the 2006 Heineken Cup winners and this year's finalists play blinkered rugby under Kidney.

"My thoughts on Declan Kidney are pretty clear and I've said them already," said Cheika. "I've always thought he is the right guy. He has a winning mentality and he picks the right guys to win big games.

"I have no issue there whatsoever . . . you know I'm not sure why he is even saying those things."

As for O'Driscoll's "three-year secret", allegedly to be revealed today, it too draws bemusement from Cheika. Indeed, he is rendered almost speechless.

"I'd say . . . Brian O'Driscoll . . . I don't know what to say. That (talk of a secret) is hype. There are no secrets in this club. We could have done better in Europe but we're at the best place we've been at in a while and we won't let bitterness overtake that. But I have also grown up. Back a few years ago I'd have been angry and annoyed at what has been said but I think I understand mentalities now.

"The only thing grudge will get you is pain later on."