It was not so much a request as a royal command when John Rutherford hauled me aside in the wee small hours following the Scottish Rugby Awards dinner and pointed out that David Leslie could do with a lift to his son Rodric�s flat in Edinburgh�s New Town.

It was not so much a request as a royal command when John Rutherford hauled me aside in the wee small hours following the Scottish Rugby Awards dinner and pointed out that David Leslie could do with a lift to his son Rodric's flat in Edinburgh's New Town. Nothing other than assent was an option, so he then walked over to his former team-mate, threw an arm round him and further instructed me: "Look after him . . . he's my hero!"

To put that in full context, Rutherford, an automatic choice as the playmaker in anyone's all-time Scotland XV, was according even greater status upon his fellow 1984 grand slam winner.

Leslie was regarded in that way by team-mates and many rivals, including the legendary Frenchman Jean-Pierre Rives whom he bettered the day that grand slam was won and on many other occasions, long before the life-threatening accident he suffered two-and-a-half years ago.

Having made his Scotland debut in 1975 while studying to become an architect, Leslie would spend a decade in the national side, captaining the team at the end of his career, but also qualifying first in his class at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, the first to achieve first-class honours there in qualifying as a Bachelor of Architecture. In doing so, he embodied the inspirational quote of which he is so fond: "Strength is more than physical capacity; it requires indomitable will."

That, though, was as nothing to the way he has fought back from a horrific two-storey fall from the roof of his home in Broughty Ferry, on to concrete flagstones.

Even once it was clear that he would survive, it was far from certain that he would walk again. Against all odds, the man who designed the Carnoustie Golf Course Hotel returned to work this year as an architect with the construction consultants, Space Solutions. He had overcome a tremour in his right hand - it is a permanent legacy of the fall - by teaching himself to write left-handed. He also underwent a two-and-a-half-hour driving test to prove the recovery of both mechanical and mental strength.

Far from satisfied with that, the 58-year-old remains a frustrated man, though. He has watched Scottish rugby's struggle to cope with the professional era, while sharing the view of many that not enough is being done generally to promote sport in this country.

An application for a post on the board of sportscotland last year met with rejection. Those selected were Frances Thin, who has spent many years encouraging sporting participation at community level in the Highlands; Grant Jarvie, depute principal at Stirling University who comes from what the organisation describes as "an international sporting family"; and Mel Young, president and co-founder of the Homeless World Cup.

Few in the wider Scottish sports community will know much about any of them, and Leslie was surprised by his rejection. This is a man who, incidentally, coached Dundee HSFP into the top flight of club rugby for the first time in their history after he retired from playing, before coaching the Scotland Under-21 team.

"I am sure they are all fine people with much to contribute," said Leslie.

"The process of the selection was very unclear, though, and needs to be a lot more open. People need to know who's making the decision and on what basis."

Leslie not only played for Scotland but, much more importantly, won for Scotland - he earned the world player of the year award for his contribution to that grand slam triumph, Scotland's first in 59 years. He is also among those who have genuine reservations about the appointment of an Englishman, Andy Robinson, as Scotland's head coach.

Those inclined towards criticising the Celtic/Caledonian cringe may seize upon those views as being jingoistic, but the thought process on that one from Leslie, a former Scotland captain, is entirely to do with logic. "Ours is a very small country so we have to have every element working in our favour to be successful," he said.

"In broad terms, the success of national teams depends 50% on the quality of players, 25% on fitness and 25% on the pride drawn from nationality. Other, bigger countries can afford to operate well within their capacity and still be successful, but, in Scotland, we have to be at 90% upwards to be successful."

In that regard, he believes mistakes were made when JimTelfer, an inspirational coach but a flawed administrator, was the Scottish Rugby Union's director of rugby.

In the context of another saying of which he is fond, from the Greek philosopher Plato - "those bearing torches, hand them on" - Leslie noted that the know-how of the squad which won its grand slam under Telfer's coaching has been largely lost to the game: "Maybe there's been a missed opportunity because that generation has been denied progress in rugby since."

It is reasonable to wonder what the current mood of the rugby nation might be if, for example, he and Rutherford - he was backs coach with Leslie for the Under-21s and also to the senior side when the 1999 Five Nations Championship was won - were now taking charge of the national side, with 1990 Grand Slam winners such as SeanLineen, the Glasgow Warriors head coach, being primed as potential successors.

On a more immediate basis, thatrecent reunion with his old team-mates - they were guests of honour at the awards dinner - also seemed to Leslie to indicate the SRU's failure to utilise to the full what is available to it.

A decade ago, he discovered a Scottish stanza written, in the manner of Robert Burns, by his own father half a century ago. Helearned the four-minute piece in order to perform it and, while his still-improving speech remains less than perfect since his accident, he has done so on a number of public platforms and offered to do so that night at Murrayfield.

The offer was rejected on the basis that it was not an occasion for speeches.

It was again with some surprise that Leslie subsequently discovered that Howard Haslett, the Irish minister who is a regular on the Scottish public speaking circuit, was to be rounding off the night, which he did in typically-entertaining fashion.

"Howard is a great bloke, but his speech revolved around Irish anecdotes. As I observed to him afterwards in pulling his leg, thank you for that piece of your mind . . . we know how ill you can afford it.' This was an occasion attended by many up-and-coming Scottish players, as well as administrators and coaches, so was a chance to reinforce what being Scottish is all about," Leslie said.

Instead, more than one member of their team - six of them attended the recent Civic Reception for Leslie where he was described as "a Dundee legend and a man of courage" by the Lord Provost - said afterwards that there should have been more emphasis on Scottishness.

Only two grand slam successes having been achieved in living memory, Scottish rugby, like Scottish sport in general, has too few people who have the experience of being in winning teams at the highest level and who have the capacity to convey that.

What David Leslie has achieved on the field as a coach, in business and in recovering from his accident, there are lessons to be learned about the way that a torch which so recently burned so brightly has not, as yet, been passed on.