SCOTLAND’s World Cup hopes recieved a massive blow here on Wednesday when centre John Leslie was ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Leslie has been struggling with an ankle injury since being carried off in Scotland’s opening match against South Africa. It was initially feared that the New Zealand-born star had broken his ankle but the result of a scan has allayed those fears. But despite undergoing intensive treatment the 28-year-old centre has not recovered sufficently and Scotland team doctor Ken MacKenzie was forced to accept defeat. “In spite of intensive physiotherapy it became obvious that John’s ankle was not responding in the way we had hoped,” he said. It could mean a shock call-up for Craig Chalmers, who was axed from the initial squad named in August.