Unruly players’ union blocks invitation from minister (3,2,4)

I believe the answer is:

let us pray

'invitation from minister' is the definition.
(a church minister)

'unruly players' union blocks' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'union' could be 'tu' (abbreviation for trade union) and 'tu' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

(Another definition for let us pray that I've seen is " Introductory words from minister".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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