It's three defeats from three for Le Rugby's Fédérale 1 favourites Le Bugue, but our boys did pick up a bonus point at local rivals Périgueux as the club presidents replaced the outgoing coach on the touchline

Perigueux 17 Le Bugue 12: The Dordogne derby drew a massive crowd of 6,157 people including French Rugby Federation president Pierre Camou, but with hosts Perigueux having 13 players out injured and our boys Le Bugue desperate to kick-start their season after two defeats, the match could never live up to its hype.

And so it didn't. Le Bugue took the field with director of rugby Jean-Francois Thiot sitting in the stands and co-presidents Louis Neisen and Thierry Thebault on the touchline wearing the coaches' armbands, and it's fair to say that les buguois played a no-risk game straight out of the recessionary boardroom.

Perigueux dominated up front but the visitors' stout defence, along with handling errors and needless, frustrated up-and-unders restricted the hosts to a 9-6 interval lead, Cyril Duroueix's penalty at the end of the half breaking the deadlock after he and opposite number Tom Marks had kicked two goals apiece.

It looked as though the floodgates would break when Perigueux winger Renaud "Four" Delmas scored a try three minutes into the second half, but normal service was resumed as Le Bugue's defence held firm, and after Duroueix's fourth penalty made it 17-6 with 20 minutes to go, but two late penalties from Marks broke the crucial seven-point deficit and gave Le Bugue their first point of the season. Right at the end, Le Bugue had threatened to take all four points when they won a line-out five metres from the Perigueux tryline, but the hosts won the ball and our garcons will have to be happy with the bonus.

The volley of fireworks that lit up Stade Francis-Rongiéras at the final whistle may have seemed a bit excessive, but the narrow defeat has given Le Bugue's players something to work on for the rest of the campaign.

"If we continue to play like this, it will pay off in the end," full back Charly Platek told Sud Ouest, before teammate flanker Amédée Domenech, fag in mouth, declared: "Now everyone knows we have a good team at Le Bugue."

In contrast, scrum-half François Bourgeois was disappointed Le Bugue didn't do better. "They were there for the taking," he said. "We made them think, but we could have done better."

Thiot, who will meet Le Bugue's presidents this week and who looks set to step down from his role on "personal and health grounds", declared the bonus point "satisfying", but admitted he expected more from "stuttering" Perigueux. As for Le Bugue, he said: "Everything is possible from now on."

Second string: Like the firsts, Le Bugue's B team are still winless after a 50-12 defeat in the curtain-raiser.

Also in Pool 6: Langon 34 Oloron 22; Tyrosse 31 Graulhet 6; Lourdes 13 Vallée du Girou 6

Next up: Vallée du Girou vs Le Bugue, Sunday October 18 at Stade Edouard-Labbé, Pechbonnieu. Le Bugue head down to the village of Pechbonnieu near Toulouse for their fourth game of the season.

One thing we will say for the EVG (Entente de la Vallée du Girou) is that it has the best website in Le Bugue's Fed 1 pool. But fancy electronic pages don't earn you points, and after a good start to the season with a 9-3 win over Oloron, the club has succumbed to defeats, the first at home to Perigueux, the second at Lourdes. Most worrying for les Giroudins is that they haven't yet managed a single try in 240 minutes of rugby. Outside-half Thomas Bonne kicking eight penalties since his summer arrival from Cahors, and scrum-half Pierre Delpech (formerly of Toulouse) adding a drop goal in the Oloron victory.

Coach Jérome Cazalbou is going to have to use the week off to reintroduce his mostly-French squad to the try line if they want to make a concerted charge for the play-offs. Last season the club romped to a 30-point lead the top of Fed 2's Pool 7 with 21 wins out of 22, and a place in the last 16 of the play-offs was good enough to earn promotion to Fed 1.

Former Toulouse scrum-half Cazalbou knows a thing or two about winning - he has seven French championship medals and a Heineken Cup medal in his cabinet - but the aim for this season will be consolidation: the club spent three years in Federales 2 and 3 before promotion, so avoiding the drop will be crucial this term. Alongside Cazalbou, former Toulouse and France colleagues Sylvain Dispagne and Pierre Bondouy aim to instil a winning mentality into a squad which mixes local youngsters and Top 14 youth players with club stalwarts and grizzled lower-league veterans.

Strength in depth could be key as the season progresses - their second-string is top of the Pool 6B table with a 100% record.

The news Fed-lines: There's a big game brewing in Pool 4, where both Carcassonne and Aubenas boast 100% records and meet at the turn in week 7. Carcassonne ran in eight tries against Chambery to pick up a bonus point, with flanker Lei Tomiki and scrum-half Laurent Campos bagging two each. Carcassonne's job was made easier by Chambery running out of props and, under the new rules, having to play 44 minutes with a man down, but Carcassonne's 48-8 win will serve notice to all their Fed 1 rivals that they are aiming for Pro D2 this season.

Aubenas made it three from three in less comfortable style, scraping a 15-13 win at Mamazet. Aubenas outscored their hosts by two tries to one, both their scores coming in four minutes after half time to turn the game on its head.

There's an unbeaten head-to-head brewing in pool 3 too, where Beziers scored seven tries in a 50-12 win over bottom club Tournefeuille, and Saint-Etienne ended Chateaurenard's perfect start with a 26-23 victory. The two meet on the Mediterranean coast in week 6, but we've already pencilled Beziers in for a swift return to Pro D2.

Pool 5's Valence d'Agen and Marmande are also unbeaten after good away wins, but in pool 2 relegated Bourg-en-Bresse left it late to salvage two points at Dijon, winger Richard Savey scoring an 80th minute try and Aussie outside-half Clint Eadie adding the conversion to sneak a 25-all draw.

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

Fédérale 1 Pool 6 table: