Country sport taken up in really odd places (5)

I believe the answer is:

rural

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'country' is the definition.
(I know that country can be written as rural)

'sport taken up in really odd places' is the wordplay.
'sport' becomes 'RU' (rugby union).
'taken up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'in really odd places' becomes 'lar' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lar' written backwards gives 'ral'.
'ru'+'ral'='RURAL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rural that I've seen before include "Old country fellow" , "outside the city?" , "Arcadian" , "Not urban" , "Countryfied" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times and The Times.

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