Christophe Urios was appointed on Wednesday as the new head coach of ASM Clermont to replace New Zealander Jono Gibbes, sacked on Monday, with a contract until June 2025 plus an optional year, the Clermont club announced on Wednesday.
ASM, which remains on a victory in its last five matches, all competitions combined, is currently 10th in the Top 14 and will play its qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions Cup on Saturday on the ground of the South Africans of the Stormers.
He will make his debut at the edge of the field during the Lyon-Clermont match for the 16th day of the Top 14, Saturday January 28 at the Gerland stadium (3:00 p.m.). Former hooker at Carcassonne (1985-1990) and Castres Olympique (1990-1999), Christophe Urios then coached the CO (2002-2005) before managing Bourgoin-Jallieu (2005-2007), Oyonnax (2007-2015) qu he notably led from ProD2 to the Top 14 play-offs and the European Cup, Castres again (2015-2019) and Bordeaux-Bègles (2019-2022).
With the Gironde team, he notably reached the Top 14 semi-finals twice and the European Cup semi-finals twice. “After fruitful internal and external exchanges over the past few days, we have unanimously come to the conclusion that the arrival of Christophe Urios at ASM is the right choice. His vision of the game and of the club in general corresponds in all respects to what we expect, ”commented President Jean-Michel Guillon in a press release published on social networks and the club’s website.
The arrival of Urios will be effective from the beginning of next week after the return of the Clermont team from its trip to South Africa where ASM is playing its qualification for the round of 16 of the Champions Cup against the Stormers, Saturday (6:30 p.m.).