No more ifs: François Cros’s departure is no longer a press report, it is an official statement.
The Rhône club announced on Thursday 27 August the signing of the Stade Toulousain back row. The deal runs for three seasons, starting on 1 July 2027, after the Rugby World Cup in Australia, and lasts until June 2030.
“It is an immense source of pride for the club to welcome François Cros,” president Marc-Antoine Ginon said in the statement, adding that the signing “reinforces the idea that at this club we have everything we need to succeed”. Earlier in the week, the same president called last season, which ended in eleventh place, a failure, and promised more signings for 2027.
What Toulouse are letting go
Cros joined the academy in 2009 and has never worn another professional jersey. Since his first-team debut, he has played 149 Top 14 matches and 52 European Cup games for Toulouse, scoring 15 tries.
| Season | Top 14 | Starts | European Cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 8 | 2 | 1 |
| 2016-17 | 18 | 12 | 6 |
| 2017-18 | 22 | 16 | 3 |
| 2018-19 | 21 | 19 | 6 |
| 2019-20 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| 2020-21 | 14 | 13 | 4 |
| 2021-22 | 16 | 12 | 5 |
| 2022-23 | 10 | 7 | 4 |
| 2023-24 | 12 | 10 | 7 |
| 2024-25 | 12 | 12 | 6 |
| 2025-26 | 9 | 7 | 3 |
Eight finals, eight starts
One line sums up his standing. Since 2019, Toulouse have won eight finals, six in the Top 14 and two in the European Cup. Cros started all eight, and played the full eighty minutes in seven of them, the only exception being the 2024 European final against Leinster, when he went off in the 69th minute.
| Date | Competition | Final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15/06/2019 | Top 14 | Toulouse – Clermont | 24-18 |
| 22/05/2021 | Champions Cup | La Rochelle – Toulouse | 17-22 |
| 25/06/2021 | Top 14 | Toulouse – La Rochelle | 18-8 |
| 17/06/2023 | Top 14 | Toulouse – La Rochelle | 29-26 |
| 25/05/2024 | Champions Cup | Toulouse – Leinster | 31-22 |
| 28/06/2024 | Top 14 | Toulouse – Bordeaux-Bègles | 59-3 |
| 28/06/2025 | Top 14 | Toulouse – Bayonne | 32-25 |
| 27/06/2026 | Top 14 | Toulouse – Montpellier | 28-20 |
The second departure of the summer
The mechanism is the same as for Thomas Ramos, whose move to Racing 92 was announced a few weeks earlier. The Top 14 salary cap has been raised from 10.7 to 11 million euros, but the international credits allowance, which lets clubs supplying many players to the France team carry a higher wage bill, has been reduced. The club providing the most internationals is automatically the most constrained. Toulouse offered their players in their thirties a 20 to 25% pay cut in exchange for an extension. Cros did not take it up, and Montpellier were also in the running before Lyon won the race.
The player still has a full season and the start of the following one in red and black. After that, the Toulouse back row will have to do without an international with 44 caps, 29 of them in the Six Nations.
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