David Leslie is a former Scottish rugby union player. He played for Scotland

Scotland national rugby union team

The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...

 32 times between 1975 and 1985. He usually played at number eight, but occasionally at flanker.

He was first capped against Ireland

Ireland national rugby union team

The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...

 in 1975, but did not become a regular on the Scotland squad until 1981.

He spent much of his playing time injured, missing the 1977, 1978, 1979 Five Nations, and half of the 1980 season. He broke a leg in 1982, missing the Australian tour.

Leslie scored Scotland's first try against in 1984, only his second for Scotland.

He played for Gala RFC

Gala RFC

Gala Rugby Football Club are a rugby union team based in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, founded in 1875, they play their home games at Netherdale....

, which he captained.

Controversially, he was left off the 1983 British Lions tour to New Zealand

1983 British Lions tour to New Zealand

In 1983 the British and Irish Lions toured New Zealand for the first time since 1977. The Lions went down to a 4-0 whitewash for only the second time in history - the previous was also inflicted by the All Blacks on the 1966 Lions. Overall the Lions played eighteen matches, winning twelve and...

. In 1984, he was voted Rugby World

Rugby World

Rugby World is the world's top-selling rugby union magazine. It is published monthly by IPC Media and edited by Paul Morgan. Long considered a leader in the industry, the magazine has benefited from a worldwide rise in interest in rugby following the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup.-See also:* Bill...

s "Player of the Season".

Richard Bath writes of him that:

"Throughout his career, he was consistently the most focussed and fearless player in a Scottish squad which had more than its fair share of fearless breakaways... for all his intensity, Leslie found it hard to establish himself in the Scottish side until late on in his career."

Allan Massie

Allan Massie

Allan Massie is a well-known Scottish journalist, sports writer and novelist.-Early life:Born in 1938 in Singapore, where his father was a rubber planter for Sime Darby, Massie spent his childhood in Aberdeenshire...

 considered that:

"Leslie's first quality is courage. All back-row forwards have to be brave, but Leslie's courage defies reason and probability alike: he reckons any ball on the ground is his to win. The courage is so blinding that one is apt to overlook the skill, judgement and timing with which he launches himself at such balls and attaches himself to them.

"He is in fact a very skilful educated player (he often played fly-half in his schooldays). He gives and takes a pass better than most of the Scottish three-quarter line. He has acquired the knack of dipping his shoulder into the tackler and slipping the ball at the same moment to a supporting player. He kicks well. Perhaps though his greatest asset with the ball in his hand is his intuitive knowledge of what is right. Jim Telfer

Jim Telfer

James "Jim" Telfer is a Scottish rugby union coach and a former rugby player. A former headmaster at Hawick High School and chemistry teacher, he has won fame as a Scottish forwards coach who gave punishing training sessions to his players...

 has said that he can stop worrying when Leslie has the ball, being 99 per cent sure that he will out it to the best use possible. This is a quality that many of even the best and most spectacular of back-row men never acquire."

He went to school at High School of Dundee

High School of Dundee

The High School of Dundee is an independent, co-educational, day school in the city of Dundee, Scotland which provides both primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils...

 and Glenalmond College

Glenalmond College

Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. The school's motto is Floreat Glenalmond...

.