North American university game and state (5)
I believe the answer is:
nauru
'state' is the definition.
(I know that Nauru is a state)
'north american university game' is the wordplay.
'north american' becomes 'na'.
'university' becomes 'U' (abbreviation for university).
'game' becomes 'RU' (rugby union).
'na'+'u'+'ru'='NAURU'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for nauru that I've seen before include "Pacific island country" , "Smallest Pacific state" , "SW Pacific republic" , "little nation" , "[OCEANIA] location" .)