Nearly-nude rugby playing makes French red! (8)
I believe the answer is:
burgundy
'french red' is the definition.
'Burgundy' can be an answer for 'red' (burgundy is a kind of red). I am not sure about the 'french' bit.
'nearly-nude rugby playing' is the wordplay.
'nearly' means to remove the last letter.
'playing' is an anagram indicator.
'nude' with its last letter taken off is 'nud'.
'nud'+'rugby'='nudrugby'
'nudrugby' with letters rearranged gives 'BURGUNDY'.
'makes' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for burgundy that I've seen before include "French region, colour and wine" , "Red wine region" , "Dark red-purple" , "Heavy red wine" , "French wine from ruby dung" .)