If, as is by no means out of the question, Argentina beat England at Twickenham on Saturday calls will surface once more for the Pumas to be allowed to play in the Six Nations, or Seven as it would become. And rightly so.

The on-field evidence is, after all, far more compelling than that which earned Italy access in 2000 and few would argue the Azzurri's addition has not been a good thing.

The South Americans are world-ranked eighth, behind Ireland in fifth, England in sixth and Scotland in seventh.

But, noticeably, they are ahead of Wales and Italy who languish in ninth and twelfth places respectively.

However, there are those who treat the International Rugby Board's criteria with disdain and, admittedly viewed in isolation, they don't amount to much of a case.

But looking back over Argentina's results is quite an enlightening process - so much so that those on the other side of Offa's Dyke might consider themselves fortunate to play in rugby's finest competition.

Especially considering the fact Wales were beaten twice in the summer, Scotland lost to them at home a year ago and, a week later, they followed that up with a 39-22 thrashing of Italy in Genoa when they outscored their hosts four tries to one.

And what of England? The Pumas rarely trample the red rose - Paul Ackford might argue differently after he was knocked stone-cold by a then-teenage Federico Mendez in 1990 - and it has been nine years since they last beat them.

But while Andy Robinson's men crab sideways on their good days and race back-wards on their bad, there is little doubt that Argentina is an upwardly mobile rugby nation.

If nothing else that was shown in 2005, when a second-string line-up were dreadfully unlucky to leave the Millennium Stadium with

no more than a draw from a game in which they exposed as many faults in Clive Wood-ward's squad as most of the NPC sides.

They were forced to play without most of their regular starters because most of them were - and still are - based with European clubs and we all know what they think about player release.

The ratio in this touring party is around threequarters to a quarter in favour of foreign-based players, with a local link being provided by W orcester's Miguel Avramovic.

The centre has so far failed to make any inroads into the Sixways first XV but many of his compatriots, such as the bullocking London Irish No 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamon and Sale's Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, are established with their clubs. Stade Francais have five in the current squad, Clermont Auvergne three and Toulouse two.

In fact, the French contingent dominate and their presence suggests a solution to the issue of the home nations not wanting to travel all the way to South America to play.

The Argentine Rugby Union lacks a pot in which to relieve itself and would sell its soul to any bidder for access to the lucrative northern hemisphere championship. And why not? I am sure rugby's lawyers could come up with an agreement that allows it - apparently they're under instruction to find solutions rather than questions at the moment - and, let's face it, Wales need all the chances they can get to win these days.