Awkwardly run into ex holding ring and poison (10)

'poison' is the definition.
(I know this)

'awkwardly run into ex holding ring and' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'run' could be 'r' (cricket abbreviation) and 'r' is located in the answer.
'into' could be 'in' and 'in' is located in the answer.
'ex' could be 'x' and 'x' is present in the answer.
'ring' could be 'o' (letter resembling a ring) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?