John Andrew Leslie (born 25 November 1970 in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) is a former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer who played at

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He is the elder son of

Andy Leslie Andrew Roy Leslie (born 10 November 1944) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A number eight, he represented Wellington domestically and captained the All Black at international level. He was captain during the controversial 1976 New ...

the great

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

captain and the brother of Martin Leslie who also played for

. He was educated at St Patrick's College, Silverstream, and completed a BPhEd at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

in 1994. Leslie played 123 games for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

and 32 for the Highlanders in the

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

. He led

to the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

title in 1998. In the 1994 South African tour of New Zealand, Otago beat South Africa for the first time to secure the Springbok head. John Leslie running on an angle scored Otago's only try under the posts in very wet conditions in the 19–12 victory. Leslie qualified for

through a paternal grandfather and initially joined Glasgow Caledonians, making his international debut along with his brother against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in November 1998. Shortly after his debut, he joined the Fukuoka Sanix Bombs club in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The Leslie brothers joined a line of

ers to play for

, dubbed the ''Kilted Kiwis'', they include:

Brendan Laney Brendan James Laney, (born 16 November 1973 in Invercargill, New Zealand) is a former professional rugby union player who represented Scotland. Nicknamed "Chainsaw" for the way he cut through defences, he was also a good goal kicker. From South ...

Glenn Metcalfe Glenn Hayden Metcalfe (born 15 April 1970 in Auckland)Glenn Metcalfe player statistics< ...

, Gordon Simpson and

Sean Lineen Sean Lineen (born 25 December 1961) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He was a former Head Coach of Glasgow Warriors from 2006 to 2012. He was a Director for the Scottish Rugby Union until December 2021. Rugby Union career ...

– the original Kilted Kiwi. In the 1999

Five Nations championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

, Leslie scored the fastest ever try against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, touching down after ten seconds after the kick-off. He was voted Man of the Tournament. In January 2000, the

SRU SRU may refer to: Organizations * Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island, US * Scottish Rugby Union * Shri Rawatpura Sarkar University, Chhattisgarh, India * Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, US * Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai ...

were keen for Leslie to be closer to

, he quit Sanix signing for

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In September 2000, Leslie joined

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

. After the 2002

Six Nations championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

Leslie retired from international rugby. At the end of the 2003/04 season John was released by

, when he returned to

and

. In October 2004 Leslie retired, playing his last match for

. Since retiring, Leslie co-coached a team at the

RFC with

Josh Kronfeld Joshua Adrian Kronfeld (born 20 June 1971) is a TV presenter and a former rugby union footballer who represented New Zealand at international level and Otago, the Highlanders and Leicester at first-class level. During his international career, K ...

. Since 2006 to present Leslie now runs the LeslieRugby Business. A rugby product business based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Leslie also runs one-day training programmes of rugby skill coaching and drill training for children and coaches across New Zealand. For the 2022 club rugby season, Leslie is returning to coaching, this time with Southern Rugby Football Club, with former All Blacks Kees Mews and Jamie Joseph.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leslie, John New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand rugby union players 1970 births Living people Newcastle Falcons players Northampton Saints players Rugby union centres Expatriate rugby union players in Japan New Zealand people of Scottish descent Rugby union players from Lower Hutt Scotland international rugby union players People educated at St. Patrick's College, Silverstream University of Otago alumni New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Scottish expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan Otago rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Glasgow Warriors players Munakata Sanix Blues players