Malcolm O'Kelly could take over from Paul O'Connell to win his 92nd cap

Malcolm O'Kelly is poised to stretch his Ireland record cap haul after he was included in Declan Kidney's 28-man squad to face Argentina on Saturday.

O'Kelly has not featured during the autumn internationals but with big doubts surrounding lock Paul O'Connell, O'Kelly could come in for his 92nd cap.

Rory Best is still struggling with injury and Alan Quinlan will face a disciplinary meeting on Wednesday.

O'Connell, Best and Quinlan are all included in the extended squad.

"All three of them have been named in the squad and the fact that we decided on 28 members shows how competitive the battle for places in this game is," said Kidney.

"It also allows us to cover several combinations if anybody is ruled out of the game.

"While we would normally name our team today, I think the circumstances and also the importance of the game meant we needed to give ourselves that extra couple of days to consider all the options that would become available to us."

Also added to in the 22 that lost to New Zealand last weekend are Geordan Murphy and Shane Horgan who complement the backs.

We will be trying to beat a team that is ranked above us and we have not done that for a while Declan Kidney

Joining O'Kelly up front, are lock Bob Casey, prop Tom Court and hooker Bernard Jackman.

Kidney has already warned his players to forget last Saturday and concentrate on the visit of the Pumas - particularly with IRB rankings at a delicate stage.

Ireland need to defeat the Pumas or they could be overhauled by Scotland for a second-tier World Cup seeding.

"We were very disappointed on Saturday night, but we have a huge game on Saturday and remaining in the top eight is now in our own hands," said Kidney.

"We will be trying to beat a team that is ranked above us and we have not done that for a while."

Scotland's 14-10 defeat by South Africa on Saturday not only prevented them from leapfrogging Ireland into eighth place in the IRB rankings but increased the margin between the sides from 0.26 to 0.42 of a ranking point.

Assuming Scotland defeat Canada at the weekend, Ireland must also win, or defeat would result in losing 0.73 of a ranking point and propelling Scotland into eighth place.

That would mean Ireland would be lumped alongside the third tier nations going into the draw for the 2011 World Cup which takes place on 1 December in London.

Declan Kidney wants his Ireland players to concentrate on the Pumas

So Kidney must use all of his mystical psychological powers to lift his side for another date with destiny against Argentina who have been the scourge of the Irish on a number of occasions.

Kidney said the team could "sob" for an hour or two, but they had to "cop on" and be ready for the next challenge.

It is a big challenge at that, having lost 12 times in 18 outings against the South Americans who have returned into the top four in the IRB rankings list following their win over Italy at the weekend

The main blueprint for the World Cup draw is:

As in 2007, there will be four pools of five teams in New Zealand.

The top three bands in each pool will be filled by the 12 pre-qualified teams from the last RWC.

The 12 pre-qualified teams are: Argentina, Australia, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga and Wales.

Band 1: Top four IRB ranked teams
Band 2: Next four ranked qualified teams (Ranked 5 to 8)
Band 3: Bottom four ranked qualified teams (Ranked 9-12).

Ireland squad:

Backs: Bowe, Dempsey, Earls, Fitzgerald, S Horgan, Kearney, Murphy, O'Driscoll, O'Gara, O'Leary, Reddan, P Wallace.

Forwards: R Best, Buckley, Casey, Couirt, Ferris, Flannery, Hayes, Heaslip, M Horan, Jackman, Jennings, O'Callaghan, O'Connell, O'Kelly, Quinlan, D Wallace.

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