The pride of English rugby (5)
I believe the answer is:
lions
'the pride' is the definition.
(a pride is a group of lions)
'of english rugby' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'lins' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lions that I've seen before include "Nelson's column animals" , "Big cats" , "Beastly kings" , "Roaring cats" , "Animals in pride" .)