Rugby player arriving empty devoured spread (9)
I believe the answer is:
propagate
'spread' is the definition.
(propagating is a kind of spreading)
'rugby player arriving empty devoured' is the wordplay.
'rugby player' becomes 'prop' (type of rugby player).
'empty' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'devoured' becomes 'ate' (to devour is to eat).
'arriving' with its middle removed is 'ag'.
'prop'+'ag'+'ate'='PROPAGATE'
(Other definitions for propagate that I've seen before include "Increase by natural process" , "Publicise" , "diffuse" , "Promote (an idea) widely" , "widely spread" .)