Meeting of rugby forwards, mostly very small, getting close attention (8)
I believe the answer is:
scrutiny
'close attention' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'meeting of rugby forwards mostly very small' is the wordplay.
'meeting of' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'rugby forwards' becomes 'scrum' (I've seen this before).
'mostly' means to remove the last letter (most but not all of the word).
'very small' becomes 'tiny' (I've seen this before).
'scrum' with its final letter taken off is 'scru'.
'scru' next to 'tiny' is 'SCRUTINY'.
'getting' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scrutiny that I've seen before include "Intense study" , "Close investigation" , "Close, careful examination" , "Detailed perusal" , "Critical examination" .)