Carcassonne were crowned Federale 1 champions and picked up the Jean-Prat Trophy with a 16-3 win over Saint-Etienne at a windy Chateaurenard.

Both clubs were already assured of a place in next season's Pro D2, but it was Christian Labit's Cité team who added the Fed1 shield to their 2008 Federale 2 championship trophy, scoring a try in each half to beat an east-France side who hadn't lost two months and seven games ago.

The author of Saint-Etienne's semi-final victories over Bourg-en-Bresse, former Bourgoin full back Alexandre Peclier continued where he'd left off by kicking an 11th minute drop goal to add to the four from last weekend.

But le CASE would regret the earlier waste of an overlap by scrum-half Fabio da Silva, and after spending the half using the 100km/h wind at their backs to peg Saint-Etienne in their own half and adding a 20th minute penalty of their own through Guillaume Garcia, Carcassonne took an interval lead when winger Benoit Lazzarotto raced in for the first try of the afternoon at the end of the first half.

Labit's second-half tactics, to starve Peclier of the ball - worked perfectly, as Garcia's second penalty extended the lead to 11-3, and with Saint-Etienne down to 14 men following the yellow carding of lock Mamadou Kolta, opposite number Clement Poux took advantage of the extra man and burrowed over for a 16-3 lead.

There was even time for prop Franck Tournaire to make a farewell appearance four minutes from the end, and the 25-cap French international was delighted to have won a third championship in a career which took in spells at Toulouse, Narbonne, Perpignan, Racing-Metro and Leicester.

"This is my third title along with the two Boucliers de Brennus I won at Toulouse," he told Midi Olympique. "But his is special because this place is all about family and friendship. It's different to the others because it takes me back to my early days."

Labit himself dedicated the win to the squad he has built in his three years at the club: "This win isn't for me, it's for the players. They are the ones who went after it with passion and desire," he said.

"I'm delighted with their dedication and that they already have memories and have written the best chapter in the history of this club.

As for Saint-Etienne, manager Richard MacClintock - who completed an unfortunate hat-trick of losing Fed1, 2 and 3 play-off finals - admitted that his players were exhausted after the giant-killing efforts of earlier rounds.

"We lost to a worthy champion. We gave our all but we lost out physically after the intensity of our previous games. Saying that, at the start of the season we were rated 47th [in Federale 1]. We're now second after an exceptional season," he said.

As for the veteran Peclier, he just wanted to get the delayed party started.

"We were beaten by the stronger side. But before we start thinking out next season we're going to celebrate our promotion to Pro D2, something we weren't able to do last week."