Connacht's Dave Heffernan hoping to catch Andy Farrell's eye on URC return

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