Out Federale 1 favourites Le Bugue start the year with a win at top-four Graulhet. Is this the start of a comeback to rival Lazarus, Lance and Lomu combined?!

Graulhet 12 Le Bugue 13: Le Bugue celebrated their first away win of the season and clung on to their faint hopes of a play-off place with a hard-fought victory at Graulhet.

Both teams were playing their first matches after a month-long break, and it looked like it as the game was short on rhythm and imagination. Twice les Chevalliers were reduced to 14 men, but forwards coach Christian Panzavolta has obviously made a big difference since arriving from Siberian club Krasny Yar late last year as the Bugue pack had the edge on the home forwards throughout.

Outside halves Tom Marks and Mathieu Gratton exchanged early penalties before Le Bugue scored the first and only try of the match through Fijian winger Aloisio Butonidualevu. When the Graulhet threequarters lost the ball, No.8 Peni Tora pounced on the loose pill and sparked a counter attack. He fed centre Terry Fanolua who spun it out to the Fijian on the touchline. One step inside and three inside-out defenders later, Buton was in under the posts for his fourth try of the season.

Marks converted, but Gratton closed the gap to 10-6 with a penalty on 17 minutes, and although Graulhet took a man advantage when Tora was shown a yellow card, they couldn't break through the stoic Bugue defence.

Marks extended the visitors' lead after the break but Graulhet kept the pressure on and twice had les Buguois pinned back on their own line only for them to clear the danger.

Gratton's third penalty made it 13-9, and Butonidualevu's white card - for repetitive team infringement - raised hopes of a home win. Gratton pulled it to within a point with six minutes to go, and after five minutes of pressure, pulled the trigger on a drop goal attempt. But the kick drifted wide, and Le Bugue had held on for their third win and a mathematical chance of reaching the Trophée Jean-Prat play-offs.

Second string: Graulhet B 18 Le Bugue B 17

Also in Pool 6: Oloron 25 Perigueux 18, Vallée du Girou 8 Langon 13, Lourdes 14 Tyrosse 31

Next up: Le Bugue vs Oloron, Stade Renaud-Cruveiller, Sunday 24 January. There couldn't be a worse time to play Oloron, as Stade St-Pée celebrated a famous win over second-placed Perigueux to go third in Pool 6. After a slow start to their season, the Pyreneans have won five games in their last seven, a run that started with the visit of Le Bugue.

The teams' records show how paper-thin the difference between a place in the play-offs and the dreaded play-downs can be. Le Bugue have scored 17 tries to Oloron's 11, and have a better points difference than Sunday's opponents, but Oloron have ground out wins where our garcons have let matches slip away from them.

Le Bugue Forwards coach Panzavolta will have to earn his euros on Sunday, as Oloron have one of the strongest packs in the division. So much do they love to keep the ball up the maillot that only one player with double figures on his back has scored a try all season. The back row is particularly sharp, flankers Manual Ares and Sorin Socol bagging five tries between them.

If they do come over all creative, the ball is unlikely to go further than outside-half Nicolas Picabea. The Oloron legend has kicked six drop goals already this term, four of those coming away from home as les Oloronais attempt to earn points from whatever territory comes their way. He's also dangerous with the place kick, and lies seventh in the Federale 1 points charts, not bad for a team who are distinctly mid-table in the overall reckoning.

Le Bugue's so-so pack will have to be at their best to pick up another four points and keep hopes of a play-off place alive. It's ultimately out of their hands, but a win her, the maximum five from the visit of Vallée du Girou and then a winner-takes-possibly-not-all visit to Langon to end the regular season would leave Le Bugue on a creditable 31 points. Will that be good enough? On verra...

The news Fed-lines: As the business end of the regular season begins, five teams are already mathematically through to the Trophée Jean-Prat play-offs, and a few others need just a point or two from their remaining games to join them in the promotion chase.

Tyrosse, first through to the next round last weekend, have been joined by Limoges (who beat second-placed Saint-Nazaire 16-9), Beziers (22-6 winners over Monteux), Carcassonne (23-19 winners at Mazamet in the Montagnes Noir derby) and Valence d'Agen (26-8 victors over Orthez).

They should soon be joined by Bourg-en-Bresse, Chalon-sur-Saone, Nice and Perigueux, leaving 15 places up for grabs over the next three or four weekends. Most pools are done and dusted with fourth well ahead of fifth in Pools 1 to 4, but pools 5 and 6 are anyone's guess. Only two points separate third-placed Lavaur and seventh placed Orthez in Pool 5, with five dividing Orloron and Lourdes in Pool 6, where we're still praying for a Bugue miracle.

At the other end, seven teams are already condemned to battling it out in the play downs, where the points they have already gained are added to anything they pick up in their four team pools. They are Poitiers (9 points), Epernay (2pts), Monteux (13pts), Bedarrides (5pts), Montmelian (10pts), Morlaas (16pts) and Vallée du Girou (12pts).

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Fédérale 1 Pool 6 table: