Fijian winger Aloisio is right on the Buton as Les Chevalliers trounce Stade Langonnais

Le Bugue 34 Langon 13: With the monkey off their backs and possibly lying at the bottom of the Dordogne with its little ape feet encased in concrete, there's no stopping Le Bugue, who scored five tries in their defeat of Langon which lifts them off the bottom of the table for the first time this season.

Although it was only 10-3 to our Federale 1 favourites at half time, Les Buguois dominated a match played in difficult conditions from the start, the unpredictable wind causing the normally reliable Tom Marks to miss an easy penalty after four minutes.

But les Chevalliers' Welsh outside-half was on target with his second attempt from 40 metres three minutes later, awarded when the Langon pack crumbled under pressure - a sign of things to come.

Le Bugue's pressure finally paid off on the half-hour, Marks hoofing an up and under for winger Aloisio Butonidualevu to chase, catch and race round Langon full-back Olivier Meynié for the try.

Marks converted, and while Julien Lavie's 37th minute penalty closed the gap to 10-3 at the interval, Terry Fanolua bagged his third try of the season four minutes into the second half, and two minutes later scrum-half Francois Bourgeois darted over from 30 metres to place one hand on Le Bugue's first try bonus point of the season.

The bonus was all but confirmed when flanker Amédée Domenech stole the ball from a Langon scrum and raced over in the corer, and although Le Bugue allowed themselves to relax and let the visitors' pack barge over for a try a minute from time, Butonidualevu had the last word with the last play of the game, the Fijian scoring his third try of the campaign on the final whistle.

The result lifts Le Bugue up to the dizzy heights of seventh in Pool 6, seven points off a play-off place but with a daunting visit to league leaders Tyrosse awaiting them in two weeks' time.

Second string: Le Bugue B 3 Langon B 71. You really can't win 'em all.

Also in Pool 6: Oloron 27 Vallée du Girou 21; Graulhet 17 Lourdes 13; Perigueux 18 Tyrosse 13

Next up: Tyrosse vs Le Bugue, Stade La Fougère, Sunday, December 6. Is this a good time to be playing Tyrosse? The runaway pool leaders had their ferns clipped at Perigueux, with only an 83rd minute consolation try sending them back west with a solitary bonus point. But seven wins from the first seven speak for themselves, and their 27-14 win at Le Bugue's Stade Renaud-Cruveiller in week 2 suggests that our boys' run of form could be about to end.

Discipline will be key at Stade La Fougère. Considering their runaway success in Pool 6, Tyrosse aren't exactly try-happy, and their tally of 15 is only two ahead of Le Bugue's 13, and it's to the boot of Thierry Dupré that coaches Christophe Hamacek and Stéphane Cambos should be grateful. The fly-half/full back, a veteran of Tyrosse's Pro D2 days, has kicked 30 penalties, 11 conversion and a pair of drop goals (as well as two tries) to claim a massive personal tally of 136 points out of the club total of 225. Naturally he's Fed1's top scorer, and he's not afraid to give it a pop from 60 metres either, increasing the potential danger zone for les Chevaliers.

Tyrosse's leading try scorers couldn't be more different, as both winger Benjamin Lolom and hooker Krieff have scored three tries this term, with rampaging lock Guillaume August joining Dupré on two for the season with his last-minute try at Perigueux. There's a week off before les Buguois try and make it three in a row, and they'll need to be at their very best to get anything from a team who already have one foot in the Trophée Jean-Prat play-offs.

The news Fed-lines: Following Tyrosse's 18-13 defeat at Perigueux, Carcassonne are the only unbeaten team in Federale 1, but it was oh so close for the Aude club, who only maintained their 100% record thanks to two late penalties from Bertrand Artero to seal an 18-16 victory at Castanet. His 79th minute kick seemed to have won the match, but Castanet's centre Damien Couturier made it 16-15 a minute into injury time, only for Artero to step up again four minutes into overtime and kick a penalty to maintain les jaunards' invincibility. Dorian Alquier had scored a try, a conversion and three penalties for mid-table Castanet, who had led 13-6 at half time.

All the attention on Fed1 was elsewhere in Pool 4, as Jonah Lomu made his long-awaited debut for Marseille-Vitrolles. Although Marseille ran in nine tries in a 63-18 victory over Montmelian, the former All Black winger, playing at centre, didn't get on the scoresheet but drew 2,500 spectators to Stade Roger-Couderc and admitted that he was impressed with the turn-out. "My welcome was extraordinary, as much from the public as from my team-mates. "All the guys played really well. Everything was really easy for me, all I had to do was to follow them around the pitch," said Lomu. "This was the first match, I was not expecting a miracle," he said. "I was just hoping to do the best possible under the circumstances.

"It was a little difficult to understand my team-mates who were talking very fast in French," he added. "I asked them to speak a little less quickly. I have to gain in confidence, and to communicate better with them. I did feel a bit lost on the pitch at times."

Not as lost, we'd wager, as Epernay's hapless XV, who hit a new low in Pool 2 by conceding 12 tries in their 79-5 defeat to leaders Chalon-sur-Saone. Full back Nicolas Carmona bagged a hat-trick to add to the try he scored in the 57-3 victory at Epernay in September. Epernay's champagne remains on ice as they await their first win of the season.

Beziers got back to winning ways after two losses with a 19-15 win at Romans, Valence d'Agen and Marmande continued to leave the Pool 5 pack behind with wins over St-Jean-de-Luz and Morlaes, and in Pool 2, Massy and Bourg-en-Bresse already look a safe bet for the play-offs, stretching the gap between third and four places with away wins at Tours and Lille.

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

Fédérale 1 Pool 6 table: