Coppers covering game beginning to display wisdom (8)
I believe the answer is:
prudence
'wisdom' is the definition.
(prudence is a kind of wisdom)
'coppers covering game beginning to display' is the wordplay.
'coppers' becomes 'pence' (I've seen this before).
'covering' is an insertion indicator.
'game' becomes 'ru' (rugby union).
'beginning to' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'display' is 'd'.
'ru'+'d'='rud'
'pence' going around 'rud' is 'PRUDENCE'.
(Other definitions for prudence that I've seen before include "Caution or shrewdness" , "Quality of being cautious and sensible, and a girl's name" , "Caution, circumspection" , "Shrewdness in planning ahead" , "Wise caution" .)