Saint-Etienne take a slender advantage into their second leg tie at Bourg-en-Bresse, while Tyrosse will need to dig deep to overturn Carcassonne's nine-point lead

Bourg-en-Bresse club US Bressane look set to bounce straight back to Pro D2 after losing by just a single point to Saint-Etienne in their Trophée Jean-Prat semi-final, first leg on the weekend.

Saint-Etienne emerged 23-22 victors in the all-east semi-final in front of 22,000 at the town's football stadium, but with the second leg to come, they may regret conceding six late points to their visitors.

The lead changed hands three times in the first half as Bressane No.8 Nic Fitisemanu responded to lock François Seguin's early try for Saint-Etienne, former Bourgoin and Clermont full back Alexandre Peclier kicking eight points for the hosts and Mathieu Chabaud matching his tally for the visitors for a 13-all half-time stalemate.

Les Stephanois regained the lead after the break, Georgian centre Irakli Machkhaneli crashing through the Bressane defence to score under the posts, giving Peclier an easy kick for 20-13. When visiting centre Clint Eadie saw yellow on the hour the hosts must have fancied their chances of extending the lead, but the difficult conditions - the kick-off had been delayed for 30 minutes by a fierce storm before the game - and a change of half-backs for USB meant that they could make little ground, and it was replacement fly half Nicolas Manguelin who kicked the next points to pull Bourg-en-Bresse back to within four points.

Peclier restored the seven-point lead with seven minutes to go but Manguelin and fellow sub Alexandre Ducrozet controlled play and after making it 23-19 with a 78th minute penalty, Manguelin dropped a late goal to send Bourg-en-Bresse into the second leg needing only a two-point win to regain their place in the second tier.

Tyrosse have a tougher challenge in their second leg as they chase a nine-point deficit at home to Carcassonne. Tyrosse, who had emerged from the same pool as our Federale 1 favourites Le Bugue, were 12 points down in as many minutes as USC outside-half Guillaume Garcia kicked three penalties and dropped a goal before you could say 'Bienvenue a Pro D2'.

Tyrosse clearly decided that a 12-point head start was sufficient, and laid siege to the hosts' 22, only for fly-half Julien Lesgourgues to strike a drop goal against the posts and scrum-half Paul Dubert to do the same with a penalty within two minutes of each other. Dubert did manage to kick two penalties before half time, but by then Garcia had dropped another goal and the teams turned round at 15-6.

Midi Olympique described the match as a battle of two piano shifters, and it's hard to disagree as Carcassonne failed to capitalise on their forward dominance and relied on Garcia's boot for all their points after the interval. Thierry Dupré matched him kick-for-kick and Tyrosse head home needing a 10-point win to enter the professional leagues. Can they do it? Well, the last time they won by less than 10 points at home was the visit of Le Bugue before Christmas, while Carcassonne were less than impressive in losing 23-12 at Perigueux back in May. We're still tipping Tyrosse...

The second legs, Bourg-en-Bresse vs Saint-Etienne and Tyrosse vs Carcassonne, will be played Sunday 13 June.

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

The away teams in the Federale 1 play-downs both take single-figure leads into the second legs of their semi finals. A late flurry of kicks by Guillaume Franck gave Orleans a 22-17 win at Oloron, while four penalties from centre Sebastien Decarré was enough to give La Seyne a 12-6 victory at the home of Le Bugue's conquerors (you can boo here) Dijon.

Sunday's second legs should see Orleans and La Seyne advance to the play-down final on June 20, and a chance of some silverware in what otherwise has been a disappointing season for both.

The second legs, Orleans vs Oloron and La Seyne vs Dijon, will be played Sunday 13 June.

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