TWO prominent All Blacks have stressed it will take a collective effort to ensure the women's game achieves the platform it deserves.

In a week when rugby's most famous side have arrived in Dublin ahead of Saturday's Test match with Ireland, their visit has been somewhat overshadowed by the growing furore surrounding the Ireland women's team, who host the USA on Friday night at the RDS.

The IRFU women's rugby director Anthony Eddy came under fire earlier this week after he used his media briefing on Monday to assert that the 15-a-side code had not been neglected in the years leading up to September's failure to qualify for the World Cup.

Eddy insisted the team was "well prepared" for those qualifiers, seemingly laying the blame at the door of the players, which brought a stinging rebuke from hooker Cliodhna Moloney who compared the interview to "slurry-spreading" on social media.

The subsequent support for Moloney from a host of players both past and present has only served to further strengthen the idea that there is a significant schism here between the key decision makers and those pulling on the green jersey.

While the Black Ferns in New Zealand are presently operating at a different end of the sporting spectrum having won the World Cup in five of the last six editions, most recently in Belfast four years ago, Ardie Savea stressed that their increasing prominence back home was only "heading in the right direction."

"It's really important for us as a nation to be able to uplift women's sport and our Black Ferns," said the superstar number eight at an AIG event under the banner #EffortIsEqual.

"It's awesome to see them over in France and previously in England playing Test matches, especially in times in Covid. That's great to see.

"Seeing them have a Super Rugby competition, I know it's only four games, but being able to have that and see more investment going into that is awesome.

"For women in New Zealand to be able to see our Black Ferns ladies playing on TV and strive to be like them, or create a job, an opportunity to provide for their families, I think it's awesome that New Zealand are heading in the right direction in that space.

"(But) It's a whole collective effort in terms of players, sponsorship, everything to uplift women's sport. There's the flipside of bringing people into the seats, bringing money into it, generating money, but for me, I know if we don't invest in something, like any normal business, if you don't invest in something wholeheartedly, it's not going to be able to grow.

"For women around the world and their sport, we have got to invest like that, we have to invest like we would in any start-up business and hopefully grow it that way. I think it takes a whole collective, players, management, the businesses, the unions, sponsors. It takes a collective mindset with the right heart to be able to do that."

Savea's team-mate Anton Lienert-Brown, who starts in midfield in the Aviva on Saturday, believes that it is imperative organisations make the investment now in order to reap the benefits further down the track.

"I think it's getting a lot more recognition in New Zealand which is a great thing but there's still a great space for it to grow," he said. "For me personally, I've got five nieces and I want them to grow up with sporting heroes like I did as a kid. I want them to be inspired by women.

"We're heading in the right direction but it needs more than just players. It needs everyone coming together to do the right thing.

"Hopefully we see more growth in that space because it's a long-term investment. There's not a lot of hype now, even though it's growing, but if we look ten, 20 years down the track, that's when you see the return on the investments you make now.

"I just want to keep seeing it because as I say, I want my nieces and other young women to be inspired like I was.

"That slogan (Can't See, Can't Be), you've got to see it to be inspired and television and advertising will be a massive part of it (too)."

All Black rugby players Anton Lienert-Brown, Will Jordan and Ardie Savea were appearing to support AIG’s #EffortIsEqual campaign.