Rugby ran in the family for Martin Leslie. His father Andy was All Blacks captain in the mid-1970s and his brother John was a fine midfielder for Otago. The Leslie brothers moved to Scotland in the late 1990s after long New Zealand careers. Martin went on to represent Scotland 37 times between 1998-2003.

The Leslie brothers qualified for Scotland through their paternal grandfather and made their international debut together against South Africa in November 1998. Martin played for Scotland in the 1999 World Cup and in the 2003 rugby World Cup. But his tournament in Australia ended prematurely when he was controversially banned for 12 weeks, later reduced to eight weeks, for foul play against the United States Eagles in pool play.

Leslie was a hard working flanker and a more than handy lineout forward who scored six tries in his 21 matches for the Hurricanes in 1997-1998. A former New Zealand Colt, Leslie also gave loyal service to the Wellington Lions over eight seasons from 1991.

Father Andy was elected President of the New Zealand Rugby Union in April 2007.