It's one of the more common cliches on the sports beat that players want to put their "best foot forward". Who wouldn't?
But while every player in every sport is trying to figuratively do it week on week, in the opening rounds of the Guinness Six Nations, the hookers of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy have been doing it literally.
The new scrum law being trialled across the championship means hookers have to keep their weight on one leg until the set-piece is set, with this "brake foot" acting as a crutch against a practice known as "axial loading".
Axial loading was becoming a major issue for hookers in elite rugby, where an excessive amount of weight was being placed on the neck and spine of hookers between the "bind" and "set" stages of forming a scrum.
When it was announced in January that this law would be given a trial run during all three Six Nations championships this year, World Rugby made it clear that it would be policed by match officials, but a glace across some of the games in Round 2 would indicate that referees are already putting the brakes on their initiative.
In the meeting of Wales and Scotland in particular there appeared to be little heed paid to the brake foot by referee Nic Berry, while it was also largely ignored by his fellow Australian Damon Murphy in Rome on Sunday where Italy were hosting England.
Whether or not Angus Gardner was strict on it between France and Ireland in Paris is unclear; the aerial TV shots denied the scrum nerds a view of the ground floor.
However Ireland international Dave Heffernan says the feedback has been largely positive so far.
Heffernan was drafted in as injury cover ahead of the Round 1 meeting with Wales, and while he hasn't featured in the tournament yet, he says officials have been reminding the players to follow the new law.
"I think in the Ireland games anyway it was highlighted before the games by both referees. I thought they managed it pretty well," he said, ahead of Connacht's URC meeting with Scarlets on Saturday.
"It's just another thing for them to look at, I know they are under pressure at scrum time. I think it’s been reffed pretty well so far, in the Ireland games anyway.
"I think once both sides buy into it rather than guess each other. Once both hookers know they have to do it, it becomes a fair contest. I think it’ll be beneficial."
Heffernan is back on the United Rugby Championship beat this weekend with Connacht, and while he will be switching back to the traditional scrum laws this weekend, he says it's not a major inconvenience to be chopping between the two.
"We let ourselves down a bit in the last few weeks with the way we've played so we haven't been too hung up on talking about winning. We want to get back to playing the way we were playing about a month ago when we were a real attacking threat."
"It's not a huge, huge difference, so I think it’s good to trial it instead of bringing it in across the board.
"I’m sure if it goes well in the Six Nations they’ll implement it across the board but it’s not a drastic, drastic change once both teams buy into it," the 31-year-old added.
Heffernan will park any Six Nations thoughts this weekend, with Connacht's minds firmly fixed on arresting their slide in the URC.
Along with the hooker, captain Jack Carty has also been released back to Andy Friend's side ahead of their meeting with the Scarlets as they look to end a run of four successive defeats, although their dismal record away to Llanelli would suggest it's a tall order.
They were overpowered late on in their European defeats against Leicester and Stade Francais, but it was their usually prolific attack that misfired in the more recent losses against Ulster and Glasgow.
Heffernan says if they hone in on their performance, the result will take care of itself.
"Everyone knows we need a win, but how we get there is how we play.
"We let ourselves down a bit in the last few weeks with the way we've played so we haven’t been too hung up on talking about winning. We want to get back to playing the way we were playing about a month ago when we were a real attacking threat.
"In fairness to Pete (Wilkins) he’s identified a lot of things we can improve on and given us actionable work-ons in our attack specifically. There’s a lot of room for improvement there, we slipped up in the last few weeks.
"That’s what we’ll focus on rather than talking about getting a win. We all know we need a win, but it’s how we do it."
Whether Heffernan returns to the Irish camp for the Round 3 meeting with Italy next week remains to be seen. The six-cap international was originally drafted in as a replacement for the injured Rob Herring, and while Herring appears to have recovered from his calf strain, Ronan Kelleher picked up a shoulder knock against France, which could see Heffernan retained in the group as cover.
So with two of Ireland's four hookers either returning from injury or dealing with a fresh knock, it leaves Heffernan with a chance to impress Andy Farrell with a big performance on Saturday.
"There's really strong competition there at hooker, each of the lads that are there bring their own different strengths to it. I just need to get back playing for Connacht consistently and getting on the ball.
"My carrying is one of my best attributes, that’s something I’m going to try to work on in the next few games, get my hands on the ball as much as possible and be solid at the set-piece.
"That's exactly what I’m going to try to do, I’m dying to get back playing. It’s gone a bit stop-start for me since Christmas. The more rugby I can get into me the better.
"Hopefully I can put my best foot forward."
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