Roman team leader's small change with first game coming up (9)
I believe the answer is:
centurion
'roman team leader's' is the definition.
(Roman military leader)
'small change with first game coming up' is the wordplay.
'small change' becomes 'cent' (I've seen this in another clue).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'first' becomes 'noi' (resembles No. 1).
'game' becomes 'RU' (rugby union).
'coming up' says the letters should be written in reverse (in a down clue, letters go up).
'noi'+'ru'='noiru'
'noiru' backwards is 'urion'.
'cent'+'urion'='CENTURION'
(Other definitions for centurion that I've seen before include "Leading Roman" , "Nocturne I played for old Roman army officer" , "Commander in ancient Rome" , "Roman leader of 100 soldiers" , "roman soldier" .)