Le Bugue looked a dead cert to break their duck against the whipping boys of leather town Graulhet. You know what's coming next, don't you...

Le Bugue 11 Graulhet 19: It's going from bad to worse for Le Bugue. Not only did they lose their fifth game of the season at home to a team that was just one place above them in Pool 6, but they've also lost forwards coach Didier Casadeï to Brive.

Of course, it might not be such a bad thing if the latest performance of Le Bugue's pack is anything to go by. Even on their bad days their forwards have overwhelmed the opposition, but visitors Graulhet dominated throughout, rarely giving Tom Marks - playing scrum-half rather than his usual outside-half - a chance to release his backs.

Graulhet scored the game's first try after just nine minutes, the forwards setting up camp inside Le Bugue's 22. Scrum-half Christophe Brayette spun the ball wide and centre Nicolas Boutié cut back inside to score under the posts. Vincent Majeau converted, and although Marks kicked a penalty three minutes later, a Majeau penalty on 16 minutes made it 10-3; despite constant pressure on Le Bugue's defence, the seven-point deficit remained until the interval.

Full back Charly Platek took over kicking duties for Le Bugue after the break and duly closed the gap to 10-6 with a 53rd-minute penalty. but two kicks from Majeau and a drop goal from Graulhet outside-half Sarcia gave the visitors a 13-point cushion going into the last 10 minutes. Although the visitors' defence finally gave way four minutes from time - winger Butonidualevu racing over in the corner after good work from Terry Fanolua, the missed conversion left les Buguois two scores short and two points away from even a losing bonus point.

To make matters worse, on Monday it was announced that forwards coach Casadeï would be joining Ugo Mola and Christophe Laussucq on Brive's coaching team following the departure of Laurent Seigne. Casadeï coached Brive's Under-21 team to the French championship last season and - Sunday's match apart - has guided Le Bugue's forwards to impressive performances this term, while also continuing to nurture Brive's future stars.

But when the call came for Casadeï to step up to coach Brive's first team, Le Bugue co-president Thierry Thébault admitted that it would have been impossible to stop him leaving.

"I'm happy for him, but it leaves me in the shit," said Thébault. "We tried to arrange for him to do both jobs, but he had to leave us really. We couldn't ask him to turn Brive down."

Le Bugue have already lost head coach Jean-Francois Thiot to ill-health this season, a loss which has seen Thébault and co-president Louis Neisen leading from the touchlines despite not having the required coaching qualifications. Player-coach Terry Fanolua is qualified, but officials, players and supporters alike would rather see him leading on the field rather than on the bench.

"I'll be speaking to Néné [Louis Neisen] about it," said Thébault. "But I really don't know what we're going to do. Didier's departure is more problematic than Jean-Francois' case."

Second string: They're consistent, at least. Le Bugue B 10, Graulhet B 41

Also in Pool 6: Perigueux 29 Oloron 5; Langon 51 Vallée du Girou 10; Tyrosse 22 Lourdes 6

Next up: Oloron vs Le Bugue, Stade St-Pée, Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Sunday 8 November. Another chance for Le Bugue to move off the bottom of the table. Oloron, like Graulhet before them, are currently in seventh place in Pool 6, and have one win from their five outings. Their sole victory came in week two with a 31-26 win over Lourdes, and they picked up bonus points with a late try at home to Tyrosse and at Vallée du Girou on the opening day.

Football Club Oloronais is based in the Pyrennean town of Oloron-Saint-Marie (pop:12,000), 20 miles south west of Pau in the Pyrenées-Atlantique department. Founded in 1903, FCO's glory days came in the 1970s, when they reached the last 16 of the French Championship three times, losing to Dax, Toulouse and Perpignan respectively.

Since those heady days, Oloron went into a long period of decline, being relegated from the (admittedly huge) top flight in 1990 and never finding their way back. They came close twice. In 2000, they beat Albi to win the Nationale 1 championship, only for the reorganisation that summer to rob them of a place in the new Division 2. Then in 2005, they went all the way to the Federale 1 final, only to lose to Colomiers. These days, of course, that would be enough to earn them a spot in Pro D2, but back then only one team went up, and it wasn't Oloron.

The 'Ron made the Federale 1 play-offs in 2008, but last season had to battle their way through the play-downs. They finished third in their group, which normally condemns you to life in Fed 2, but their high points tally of 48 (one more even than Pool 6 winners Le Bugue) meant they stayed up by a whisker.

Their signings over the summer included the only non-French players in the squad, Romanians Sorin Socol and Nicolae Dragos Dima, who both made the short journey from Pau. Prop Dima has Heineken Cup experience from his time at Castres and Toulouse, while flanker Socol played in the top flight with Agen before moving to Pau. Along with centre Ludovic "Nelson" Mondella, Socol is Oloron's only ever-present this season.

The news Fed-lines: Five teams remain unbeaten across Federale 1's six divisions. Leading the pack are Beziers, who have picked up 24 points out of a possible 25, their latest full-house coming in a 39-0 away win over Monteux. Les Montiliens are not even the worst team in the pool, but the 11-time French champions took them to the cleaners with five tries and 14 points from the boot of Jean-Baptiste Dambielle.

Carcassonne went clear at the top of Pool 4 with a 26-13 win over Mazamet, but their previously unbeaten rivals, Aubenas, suffered their first defeat away to bottom club Montmelian. In the same group, Marseille-Vitrolles got ready for the arrival of Jonah Lomu with a 50-15 win over Chambery, three of their eight tries coming in the last five minutes. The big Kiwi has finally arrived on the Cote d'Azur and is hoping to get his first game for the club sometime in November. At this rate, he'll struggle to make water carrier.

Valence d'Agen kept their 100% record with a 26-22 win at Orthez, Chalon-sur-Saone saw off Montlucon 26-16 to inch ahead of Massy (30-9 winners at Dijon) and in Le Bugue's Pool 6, Tyrosse beat Lourdes 22-6 to stay unbeaten ahead of their clash with second-place Langon next time out.

But the big news from Pool 6 is that Vallée du Girou have finally scored a try! After 359 minutes of tryless rugby, outside-half Robin Griffoul crossed for the Giroudins against Langon on the stroke of half-time. Griffoul added a conversion and a penalty to score all his side's 10 points. The less said about the 51 points they conceded at Stade Comberlin, the better.

Finally, the 100% records no team wants, and it's down to three. Epernay prop up the whole league with just one point from five games, their latest reverse being a 13-29 defeat to Bourg-en-Bresse. Morlaas lost 6-14 to St-Jean-de-Luz for their fifth straight defeat, and then, of course, is our own Le Bugue. Maybe next time...

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

Fédérale 1 Pool 6 table: