Pichot pivotal to the Pumas' revolution

Agustin Pichot inhabits two rugby worlds, closely connected in one sense but a million miles apart in another. At home in England, the Bristol scrum-half earns a very decent living and is able to negotiate his way around a supermarket without being badgered for an autograph in every aisle. At home in Argentina, his real home, he earns next to nothing – a few pesos in expenses and a flat £200 per Test match – yet cannot walk five paces down a Buenos Aires avenida without being recognised.

Pichot has little problem dealing with the distractions and intrusions that accompany celebrity in this extraordinarily vibrant sporting culture; unfailingly friendly and approachable, he will happily talk rugby into the small hours with a mischievous wit and a heartfelt passion. Yet he yearns for Argentina to maximise its potential in the union code – a potential rooted in the scores of strong and gifted players who have embraced the game across the country, from San Miguel de Tucuman in the north, to Mendoza in the west, to the capital province in the east.

Slowly, Pichot and his comrades are realising this ambition. By common consent, Argentina is among the top six or seven rugby nations in the world – "We are seeded eighth in next year's World Cup, but that decision has more to do with rugby politics than anything else," Pichot said at the national team's training base in Pilar on Wednesday – and if they beat England here tomorrow, having won in Cardiff and Edinburgh last November, taken New Zealand to the wire a couple of weeks later and seen off the Six Nations Grand Slammers of France six days ago, it will be at least possible to argue that this is the finest Puma team ever to take the field in anger.

But Pichot insists that something else needs to happen, in the boardroom rather than on the pitch. That something is full professionalism, and rather like the results on match day, it is beginning to take shape. Along with the mighty front-row forwards Mario Ledesma and Federico Mendez – "I need my bodyguards in these discussions," he laughed – Pichot has taken a leading role in persuading the deeply conservative Argentinian union to get real, and their softly-softly diplomacy was rewarded in December when the principle of pay-for-play at international level was finally established.

Unfortunately for the Pumas, economic mayhem was just around the corner – loan defaults, rampant inflation, plummeting currency, banking restrictions, the works – and as a result, a rugby wage packet is still rarer than hen's teeth. "It is difficult, yes," Pichot admitted. "But this is a problem for the whole of Argentina, not just rugby. I find the situation here very painful; even when I am in England, I am sentimentally attached to what is happening in my own country, and when I come back and see a child who has not eaten for five days because his parents have no money, it hits me hard.

"Yet at the same time, I feel the warmth of the people towards the Pumas and I feel proud to be a part of my country. People love their football here, of course, but there is a different kind of sympathy and support for us, perhaps because Argentinian rugby players have always made such sacrifices to play for the national team. Many of us play abroad and earn good money, but some still play at home and must earn their livings in other ways." The players in this category include such accomplished performers as Mendez, Santiago Phelan, Gonzalo Longo and Rolando Martin.

Remarkably, the European-based contingent renewed acquaintances with the home birds only four days before last weekend's Test against a French side boasting 11 of the side that coasted to the Six Nations title in April. "You should have seen the first line-out practice," Pichot groaned. "It was as if we had never met each other. But then, we had not played together for seven months, so perhaps it was understandable. Our first-half performance against France was not good, but if you have not operated as a team for so long, 40 minutes of confusion is permissible.

"We will be better against England, I think, but they will have prepared well and I am sure they will pose a mental challenge to us, as well as a physical one. England is a proud rugby nation, strong enough now to expect to win a Test with whatever players they put on the field, just like New Zealand and France. We are at home, though, and while we players are interested in our own development as a team, the people of Argentina want to celebrate a victory. I want to deliver this to them. We all do."