The history books will remember Bernard Foley's last-gasp penalty and the attacking genius of Kurtley Beale and Israel Folau but to those rusted-on Waratahs fans - what was left of them anyway - the 2014 Super Rugby title will be remembered for Jacques Potgieter and, in what is the cruellest blow to Australia rugby, the departed Kane Douglas.

The joy of that triumph for Michael Cheika and his ascension to the Wallabies job, albeit in the most undesired of circumstances, has quickly turned to despair. Faced with the more confrontational demands of Test rugby, Cheika is facing the biggest crisis of his coaching career.

The Wallabies do not have the necessary firepower to replicate the Waratahs' game plan, meaning the coach must either have a tactical rethink or embark on a scouting mission that uncovers some hidden gem running about in second grade (if there still is a second grade in the wake of further budget cuts to club rugby). He'll need to be raging with "mongrel", as ESPN's Greg Growden wrote in Monday's edition of The Growden Report.

The sight of the Wallabies attempting to steamroll their way out of their own 22 in the weekend's 29-26 loss to France was admirable, but the dropped balls and lack of line-busting ability served up a major dose of reality.

Cheika revitalised the Waratahs and re-engaged a disenchanted fanbase through his running philosophy, a game plan borne out of his Randwick upbringing and honed in coaching stints with Leinster and Stade Francais. But it was the addition of Potgieter that proved pivotal in Sydney, and it wasn't long before the South African inspired his new team-mates - with Douglas in particular adding an aggressive edge to his game.

Michael Cheika has the coaching nous to transform the Wallabies, but does he have the playing talent? © Getty Images

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But yet again, the joy was broken by a touch of despair. Locked in a contract battle with the ARU, Douglas was unable to secure a competitive Australian Rugby Union top-up and packed his bags for Dublin in the prime of his playing career.

The lock's departure was later confounded when the ARU came up with some extra cash for code-hopper Karmichael Hunt. The former Brisbane Broncos and Biarritz back may yet turn out to be as devastating as Israel Folau, but he won't be doing the hard yards inside the Wallabies' 22. And without that, he'll have little space to work in. Just ask Izzy; he'll tell you what happened in Paris at the weekend.

The likes of Stephen Moore, Tatafu Polota-Nau, David Pocock, Scott Fardy and Scott Higginbotham will all return in 2015, which will add depth to the Wallabies' forward stocks as they build towards Rugby World Cup 2015. But there looks to be a shortage of players in the mould of Springboks No.8 Duane Vermeulen, All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick and that kamikaze South African the Waratahs plucked from the Bulls.

So what does Cheika do? Does he stick to his guns and continue to try and transform the Wallabies game? After all, he is just three games into the national stint. Or does he go against his own personal philosophy and revert to a more cautious, boot-to-ball approach?

It's a crisis of conscience and one spiced up with just a touch of irony. Douglas will probably drop by Wallabies training in Dublin this week in the green and blue of Leinster - it's enough to make Cheika choke on his Guinness.