Andy Leslie had a remarkable promotion to the All Blacks in 1974. Not only was he called into the All Blacks at the advanced age of 29, having been typecast in most judgements as a good and worthy provincial player, but he was also made the captain.

Making the sudden Leslie elevation even more stunning was his promotion to captaincy, which had been forecast only by a handful of pundits, was that it came at the expense of New Zealand's best player of the time, the extremely popular Ian Kirkpatrick.

But the All Black coach of the time, John Stewart, having been downhearted by some poor results in his first season in charge, in 1973, had decided that a desperate situation required a radical remedy.

Hence, for the team to tour Australia early in 1974 Stewart and his selectors included 15 new All Blacks, axed some notable internationals, including Sid Going, and replaced Kirkpatrick as captain.

Despite a fine record leading some outstanding Petone club sides Leslie at the time had never been the appointed Wellington captain, leading the provincial side only occasionally when the incumbents had been absent.

Having played more than 100 first class games for Wellington, including an unbroken sequence of 96 in 1968-73, Leslie was actually contemplating retirement. He reasoned that having received All Black trials in 1972-73 he had reached the limit of his ability. But his calm, unassuming manner had appealed to Stewart.

As a No 8, even by the standards of the 1970s when players generally were much smaller than their modern counterparts, Leslie was probably not quite big enough at interntional level. Though an excellent athlete he had the build of a greyhound, standing around 1.87m but weighing only a little more than 90kg.

But Leslie surprised his many critics, who were irked with his selection ahead of Alan Sutherland and Alex Wyllie, by proving to be a competent performer at test level. In the 1974-76 seasons he formed an effective back row with Kirkpatrick, who without the cares of captaincy produced some of his best form in those seasons, and the openside flank specialist Ken Stewart.

Leslie captained the All Blacks on an unbeaten 1974 tour of Australia and to another unbeaten record later that year on a short tour of Ireland and the United Kingdom. He was again captain in one off tests against Scotland (the celebrated "water polo" match) in 1975 and Ireland in 1976 and then on the tour of South Africa in 1976 when there was the disappointment of an unlucky 3-1 series loss.

In all Leslie played in 34 All Black matches including 10 tests, having the unusual record of being the captain in all of those games. The high point of his time in charge of the All Blacks was the three matches in a week against Ireland, a Welsh XV and the Barbarians, the equivalent of three full internationals though only the Ireland game carried official test status, and emerging unbeaten.

Leslie turned 32 just after the 1976 tour of South Africa and opted out of All Black consideration for the 1977 season. But he continued to captain Wellington and when he retired at the season's end he had taken his appearances for Wellington A to 144 and overall first class tally to 195.

Leslie's parents were Scottish and his father, also named Andy, had been a professional soccer player who after his migration to New Zealand had represented the country in the round ball code. Andy Leslie junior also achieved international honours in softball, playing in the world championship in 1966.

His two sons, John and Martin, took advantage of their Scottish ancestry to play international rugby for that country in the late 90s to early 2000s. John, a second five eighths, played with distiction for Otago and the Highlanders and toured Argentina in 1994 with a New Zealand Development team. Martin, a loose forward, also had a lengthy career with Wellington and the Hurricanes.

Andy Leslie remained active in the game after he had retired as a coach and administrator. He coached Petone clubs and Wellington representative teams at Colts and NPC (1990-92) levels. He also worked as a coach in the UK, mainly in Ireland, and in 2002 became president of the Wellington Union.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Andrew Roy Leslie

BORN

Friday, 10 November 1944 in Lower Hutt

AGE

65

PHYSICAL

1.88m, 90kg

POSITION

Number 8

LAST SCHOOL

Hutt Valley Technical College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Petone

PROVINCE

Wellington

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Wednesday, 1 May 1974
v South Australia at Adelaide
aged 29 years, 172 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 25 May 1974
v Australia at Sydney
aged 29 years, 196 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 18 September 1976
v South Africa at Johannesburg
aged 31 years, 313 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

10 (10 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

24 (23 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

34 (33 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

4pts (1t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

24pts (6t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

28pts (7t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

731

The All Black Games that Leslie played.
(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1974

 1 May vs South Australia at Adelaide 117-6  (Captain)

 5 May vs Western Australia at Perth 31-3  (Captain)

 8 May vs Victoria at Melbourne 41-3  (Captain)

 12 May vs Sydney at Sydney 33-10  (Captain)

 15 May vs N.S.W. Country at Dubbo 27-4  (Captain)

 18 May vs N.S.W. at Sydney 20-0  (Captain)

 25 May vs Australia at Sydney 11-6  (Captain)

 28 May vs Queensland at Brisbane 42-6  (Captain)

 1 Jun vs Australia at Brisbane 16-16  (Captain)

 8 Jun vs Australia at Sydney 16-6  (Captain)

 11 Jun vs Fiji at Suva 14-13  (Captain)

 6 Nov vs Combined Irish Universities at Cork 10-3  (Captain)

 9 Nov vs Munster at Limerick 14-4  (Captain)

 13 Nov vs Leinster at Dublin 8-3  (Captain)

 16 Nov vs Ulster at Belfast 30-15  (Captain)

 23 Nov vs Ireland at Dublin 15-6  (Captain)

 27 Nov vs Wales XV at Cardiff 12-3  (Captain)

 30 Nov vs Barbarians at London 13-13  (Captain)

1975

 14 Jun vs Scotland at Auckland 24-0  (Captain)

1976

 5 Jun vs Ireland at Wellington 11-3  (Captain)

 30 Jun vs Border Invitation XV at East London 24-0  (Captain)

 7 Jul vs South African Proteas at Cape Town 25-3  (Captain)

 14 Jul vs Boland Invitation XV at Wellington 42-6  (Captain)

 17 Jul vs Western Province at Cape Town 11-12  (Captain)

 24 Jul vs South Africa at Durban 7-16  (Captain)

 28 Jul vs Western Transvaal at Potchefstroom 42-3 (+) 

 31 Jul vs Transvaal at Johannesburg 12-10  (Captain)

 14 Aug vs South Africa at Bloemfontein 15-9  (Captain)

 18 Aug vs Quagga-Barbarians at Johannesburg 32-31  (Captain)

 21 Aug vs Northern Transvaal at Pretoria 27-29  (Captain)

 28 Aug vs Natal at Durban 42-13  (Captain)

 4 Sep vs South Africa at Cape Town 10-15  (Captain)

 14 Sep vs Griqualand West Invitation XV at Kimberley 26-3  (Captain)

 18 Sep vs South Africa at Johannesburg 14-15  (Captain)

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs South Australia, 1 May 1974

1

-

-

-

4

vs N.S.W., 18 May 1974

1

-

-

-

4

vs Australia, 1 Jun 1974

1

-

-

-

4

vs Barbarians, 30 Nov 1974

1

-

-

-

4

vs Western Transvaal, 28 Jul 1976

1

-

-

-

4

vs Northern Transvaal, 21 Aug 1976

1

-

-

-

4

vs Natal, 28 Aug 1976

1

-

-

-

4

Totals

7

0

0

0

28

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Australia

3

2

1

-

1

-

-

-

4

Ireland

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

4

1

-

3

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

10

6

1

3

1

0

0

0

4