Victory grand for rugby player (4)
I believe the answer is:
wing
'rugby player' is the definition.
(type of rugby player)
'victory grand' is the wordplay.
'victory' becomes 'win' (a win is a victory).
'grand' becomes 'g' (G is short for ground as in a thousand).
'win'+'g'='WING'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for wing that I've seen before include "Wound, but not fatally" , "Chicken portion" , "Plovery flock" , "Organ of flight" , "Projecting part of bird or aircraft" .)