Dijon prove too hot for Le Bugue in the play-downs as the race for a place in Pro D2 comes down to the final four

Where were we? Oh yes, so our Fed1 favourites Le Bugue were heading to Orthez needing just a point to secure Federale 1 rugby for another season. And they got just that, winger Morgan Souply rounding off the perfect week, running in a try in each half just a few days after the birth of his son Aidan. Tomas Marks had already bagged a try in the first half, and although Orthez flanker Jean-Marc Zubizaretta had also scored two for the hosts in the first period, with two minutes remaining and Saint-Medard racking up a 33-20 win over at Epernay, Orthez were heading down to Federale 2. That was until the Béarn outfit's full back Fabrice Cazenave timed his first try of the season to perfection, leaving everyone at Stade Municipal with something to celebrate and bursting Saint-Medard's bubble up in Champagne country as they dropped down to Fed2 by the slenderest of margins.

The pool win handed les Chevaliers a clash with Morlaas, a team that, like Le Bugue, had recovered from a poor start to the season to hit their stride after Christmas and achieve le maintien quite comfortably. The match, at neutral Lavardac, hung in the balance to the final whistle, Souply and Tongan international winger Suka Hufanga scoring two tries for Le Bugue after the break to establish a 23-11 lead thanks also to 13 points from the boot of Tomas Marks. But Morlaas winger Herman Mussard pulled it back to five points with a late try and the game ended with Morlaas camped in Le Bugue's 22, our boys just about hanging on for that quarter-final place.

That quarter-final was a two-legged tie with Dijon, who had retained their Federale 1 place with ease, but in the first leg at Le Bugue's Stade Cruvelier les Chevaliers got off to a flying start, No.8 Peni Tora, Souply and Fijian winger Aloiso Butonidualevu all touching down within 17 minutes to race into a 19-3 lead. Dijon finally showed up after 20 minutes and pegged Le Bugue back to 22-16 with 15 minutes to go but a late try from Francois Bourgeois helped the hosts to a 29-19 win and a hope of making it through to the semi-finals.

It might have been the long coach journey across to east France for the return leg, but Le Bugue's season came to a premature end at Dijon's Stade Bourillot a week later as they fell to a 46-5 defeat, full back Charly Platek picking up a consolation try in the second half after the hosts had opened up a 27-0 lead.

And so our Federale 1 favourites' season ended three games early, but after their woeful early season form left them with a battle to beat the drop, staying up was an achievement in itself and we've enjoyed joining them on their travails round France. Hopefully we can do it all again next season.

Final Fédérale 1 Play-Down Pool E:

The news Fed-lines: The business end of Federale 1, the Trophée Jean-Prat, has reached the semi-final stage, although for all four teams involved, these are finals as the two winners gain promotion to Pro D2.

The big surprise is that promotion favourites and 11-times French champions Beziers will be spending another season in Federale 1 after losing out on aggregate to Bourg-en-Bresse club US Bressane in the quarter-finals. They were relegated with Beziers last year but after their 20-12/20-23 win over les Bitterois, are aiming to bounce straight back.

Standing in their way are dark horses Saint-Etienne, who only narrowly scraped into the play-offs after the regular season but who beat top seeds Chalon-sur-Saone home and away in the quarter finals (12-3/24-20) to extend their winning run to five matches.

Saint-Etienne's only defeats since the regular season ended have come at the hands of Tyrosse, who bounced back to beat Limoges on aggregate (17-20/25-9) and set up a semi-final against Fed 1 powerhouse Carcassonne.

Coached by former Toulouse legend Christian Labit, Carcassonne overturned an 11-point first-leg deficit to see off Perigueux (12-23/6-34), but may find Tyrosse a tougher proposition. Their two-legged semi is set to be the toughest test of the season - the two have only lost five games between them all year.

First legs are played this Sunday June 6 with Saint-Etienne and Carcassonne hosting the openers. The return legs will be a week later. We're tipping Bourg-en-Bresse and - and it's a toss-up - Tyrosse to return to Pro D2.

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

The play-downs, now minus Le Bugue, carry no promotion but the winners can at least call themselves Federale 1 champions for a season. Les Chevaliers' conquerors, Dijon, host Provencal outfit La Seyne in their semi-final, first leg, while Oloron and Orleans battle it out for the other final spot.

Get all the latest Federale 1 Play-down results at ItsRugby.fr