The former sales director of Michelin took therein at the club in 2013, on the retirement of René Fontès. On his watch, Clermont won the Top 14 for just the second time in their history in 2017, and the European Challenge Cup in 2019. They also reached the Top 14 final in 2015, and Champions Cup finals in 2015 and 2017.
He announced in July that he had been battling cancer for several months. “There are so many people living in dire situations in the world that I’m not going to complain. There is worse than having cancer today in France,” he told the regional newspaper, La Montagne, at the time.
“I’ve always been a fighter, ” he said. “Cancer itself, for me, is a disease like any other. I’m lucky I don’t have side effects, [I get] just a little tired every now and then.”
He was still involved in meetings for the resumption of club competitions in the days before his death.
The news sparked a wave of tributes from the great-and-good of French rugby. FFR president Bernard Laporte described him as ‘a great leader and a generous man’.
Claude Atcher, who is heading up preparations for the 2023 World Cup, said de Cromières’ death ‘will leave a great void in the Clermont landscape and in French rugby’.
The respect in which he was held went beyond the game’s administrators. Former France captain Thierry Dusautoir added that he was, “a great leader of [Clermont] and French rugby and a person of extreme kindness”, while players’ union boss Robins Tchale Watchou simply tweeted, “Mr de Cromières we will miss you”.
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