“Everything went: ligaments, tendons and cartilage.”I was told it was fine for the Six Nations and I gave it a go against Italy, but I had come back far too soon. I had a couple of steroid injections which got me through a couple of weeks, but eventually I could hardly run on it, so I needed another operation. It was a major injury and I only got over it after a lot of rehabilitation.”He had just joined New-castle from the Japanese club Sanix, but the injury saw him play just twice in the Premiership after that. This season Leslie found himself out of favour at Newcastle having played only eight times and, worse, he began to read stories about himself in the press which claimed, among other things, that he was demanding a first-team place at Kingston Park as of right “I would never do that,” he insisted “That would be arrogant No rugby player would. Then I read that I could not make it into the team, yet every time I was available I was selected.”The problem is I am not a political person I am just not interested in all that So I did come out of it all looking worse than I really am I was really quite hurt. The whole thing was really quite horrible.”Leslie looked for another club.

“I did consider moving up to join Edinburgh Reivers,” said Leslie, who is now 30. “But the thought of having to make eight-hour journeys by coach for away games in the Welsh/Scottish League just did not appeal to me.”So when John Steele invited Leslie down to the Midlands he jumped at it “I was so pleased that Northampton showed interest in me. I am so appreciative of having been picked up by them, and since we arrived here we have had so much help from everyone at the club. And the town itself is very much like you would find in New Zealand It is a rugby town. And at the club there is a good rugby environment.”But even after he, wife Carmel and baby Jack, who is a shade over six months, made the move to Saints, the gods still had one more wicked little trick up their sleeve. Despite being an established Scotland international, Leslie is still regarded as an overseas player, so until Pat Lam was granted British residency rights a couple of weeks ago, Saints had three overseas players, with South African prop Garry Pagel on their books as well.”It is an odd rule, but it is completely out of my hands. I know that if I qualified for England instead of Scotland then I would not be classed as an overseas player But I am not going to get involved.

And now that Pat has residency the only problem I have is getting into the 22 for each match.”He has plenty of competition at Franklin’s Gardens, with Allan Bateman, Luca Martin, Mark Tucker and Matt Allen all pressing for places. But to hear his assessment of his performance for Scotland in Paris last weekend, there is little doubt that this hyper-self-critical man will not put himself forward for selection unless he feels he merits it.”I suppose I was reasonably happy with my game against France,” he said “But I had the ball stripped from me twice That really disappointed me. Those were two mistakes and I try to follow the precepts of my father, Andy He says, ‘Try to eliminate all mistakes from your game’. But in the next breath he says, ‘If you do not make a mistake then you have not done enough’.”The search for perfection will continue to drive Leslie through some of the hardest times.

The evidence so far suggests he will come through them with flying colours.. It was the same month that decimalisation came to Britain, the same day that a referendum in Switzerland granted women the right to vote. It was shown on BBC1 before the Apollo 14 moonwalk and Dixon of Dock Green. The penny (one pence coin, that is) had not dropped with John Taylor that last Tuesday was the 30th anniversary of his monumental last-minute match-winning kick at Murrayfield – “the greatest conversion since St Paul”, as Alun Williams, the veteran BBC Wales commentator,famously christened it.

It was the same month that decimalisation came to Britain, the same day that a referendum in Switzerland granted women the right to vote. It was shown on BBC1 before the Apollo 14 moonwalk and Dixon of Dock Green. The penny (one pence coin, that is) had not dropped with John Taylor that last Tuesday was the 30th anniversary of his monumental last-minute match-winning kick at Murrayfield – “the greatest conversion since St Paul”, as Alun Williams, the veteran BBC Wales commentator,famously christened it.
Wales were on the road to defeat in Edinburgh on the afternoon of6 February, 1971, when Taylor stepped up to take his last-gasp pot at the posts It was a long shot in every respect. Gerald Davies had danced round Ian Smith to score in the right corner, but Wales were17-18 behind and the kick was from tight to the touchline.