Our man in the Dordogne, Al Buga, watches our boys' opening Federale 1 match at Langon and rounds up the rest of the Fed 1 action

Langon 27 Le Bugue 12: Le Bugue made a promising start to their 2009/10 campaign, but Langon proved too strong in the second half of the season's opener and claimed a bonus point to go top of Pool 6. Stade Langonnais, who finished second in the same group last season, opened the scoring after just three minutes, flanker Julien Hubert touching down after a great move from the forwards and versatile half back Julien Lavie - playing scrum half today - converting.

Les buguois struck back at once with a penalty from new Welsh signing Tomos Marks (right), most recently of Llandovery and previously of London Welsh and Llanelli. He kicked a second after 12 minutes and although Lavie kicked Langon into a 10-6 lead when young blindside Fabien Borie was yellow carded after 15 minutes, Marks hit a third goal on the stroke of half time to make it 10-9 to the hosts at the interval.

Sadly the second half was all Langon's. They came out stronger and despite wasting a couple of chances through sheer clumsiness, caught our boys on the hop with a tap penalty on their own 22 which saw les langonnais sweep downfield and flanker Bertrand Fourton score. Lavie converted before scoring a try of his own on the hour mark, intercepting and racing 60 metres to ground the ball under the posts for the bonus point. Le Bugue never looked like robbing them of the bonus, and Marks' fourth penalty seven minutes from time was scant consolation.

Second string: The Federale 1A reserve pre-amble was a little more one-side, Langon beating Le Bugue 109-0. We're only backing the first team, in case you were wondering.

Also in Pool 6: Lourdes 29 Graulhet 23; Vallée du Girou 9 Oloron 3; Tyrosse 18 Perigeux 10

Next up: Le Bugue vs Tyrosse, Stade Renaud-Cruveiller, Sunday September 27. This could be a tough home opener for our boys in blue. Tyrosse, from the Landes region that boasts (we use the word advisedly) both Dax and Mont-de-Marsan, reached the last 12 in last season's Jean Prat Trophy, and as recently as 2006 could be found plying their questionable trade in Pro D2.

They dogged out an 18-10 home win over Perigeux in their opener, outside-half Thierry Dupré kicking six penalties in atrocious conditions. Their large squad contains only two non-French players in Samoa's ex-Montpellier centre Ali Koko and the club's kiwi stalwart, winger John Rapana, who has been at Tyrosse since their Pro D2 days. We'll find out on Sunday if Le Bugue's international brigade can claim their first win of the season.

The news Fed-lines: 11-times French champions Beziers, newly relegated from Pro D2, won their first ever game in Federale 1, scoring four tries in the 33-9 defeat of Romans to pick up a bonus point. Likely Jean-Prat contenders Marseille-Vitrolles await the arrival of star signing Jonah Lomu but did perfectly well without him, scoring five tries in their 42-22 win at Montmelian.

Last year's semi-finalists Carcassonne also got off to a winning start, walkabout winger Yannick N'Gog - he's played for Montferrand, Lyon, Bayonne, Agen, Grahulet and the Llanelli Scarlets over the years - marking his USC debut with the only try of the game. Relegated Bourg-en-Bresse beat Lille 29-19, while Paris club Massy overcame the pre-season loss of coach Didier Faugeron to Stade Francais with a 20-19 home win over Tours. 14-19 down at half-time, Gregory Coudol kicked a 78th minute drop goal to ease Massy's woes for a week at least.

You can find all the latest Federale 1 results at ItsRugby.fr