A poor RU team unpaid (7)
I believe the answer is:
amateur
'unpaid' is the definition.
(I know that unpaid can be written as amateur)
'a poor ru team' is the wordplay.
'poor' indicates an anagram.
'ru'+'team'='ruteam'
'ruteam' with letters rearranged gives 'mateur'.
'a'+'mateur'='AMATEUR'
(Other definitions for amateur that I've seen before include "Dabbler" , "A non-professional sportsman" , "he's not making any money" , "hobbyist" , "One who pursues an activity as a pastime only" .)