The semifinals for the USA Rugby Men's Club DI playoffs are set as quarterfinals in Pittsburgh and Tucson were completed Saturday.

The Chicago Lions defeated Rocky Gorge 32-24.

It was a tough game for the Lions. "They kind of had us on the ropes for a while there," said the Lions' Luke Thiem. "The pressure we were able to put on them tomorrow was key."

Defending champs Mystic River fell to NYAC.

"It was a real good showing from the boys," said NYAC forward Nate Brakeley. "It was really good to come out strong. We were down to 13 men at one point."

The Eagle Brakeley said NYAC stuck to their structure better than Mystic.

"We're playing Chicago now and we now next to nothing about them," said Brakeley.

Meanwhile Belmont Shore beat Life West 39-17 with their veterans making an impact. Sam Lilley and Peter Sio scored tries, and Kameron Moeller kicked nine points. Max Paronelli, Matthew Masoe, Keni Nasoqeqe, and Greg Daniel also scored tries for Shore.   

And the Austin Huns won something of a barnburner 48-38 over SFGG. The lead changed hands four times in the first 15 minutes, but then SFGG led until ten minutes into the second half. Down 28-20 Austin got tries from Martin Knoetze and Timothee Guillimin that nudged them ahead. Prop Mason Pedersen and then lock Kyle Breytenbach sealed it.

Guillimin scored 15 points while former HS All Americans Hanco Germishuys (flanker) and Michael Reid (scrumhalf) helped spark the effort. The Huns got a boost with Todd Clever's return to action. The USA captain was on the bench.

So Sunday will see Chicago take on NYAC, and Belmont Shore face the Huns.