The Rugby Super League kicked off its postseason tournament today with some intense quarterfinal matches held in select cities around the U.S.

On Travers Island, the top-seeded New York Athletic Club hosted No. 7 San Francisco Golden Gate in the first quarterfinal faceoff of the day. What would prove to be the closest contest of this round didn’t start off as well as SFGG had hoped, as they allowed NYAC four penalty goals in the first half for the 12-point lead.

In the second half, NYAC touched down their first try of the match to extend their lead to 19. But, San Francisco wouldn’t go down that easy and battled back with two tries in the course of five minutes for the 19-14 final score.

“We were able to take them out of their rhythm hold them off until the final minutes,” NYAC’s Bruce McClane said. “They obviously played with a lot of heart and it really could have gone either way. They are a great team and both sides played like it was the finals.”

NYAC will now host the fifth-seeded Denver Barbarians following their 39-24 victory over Charlotte Rugby Club in North Carolina today. The Barbos, which didn’t make the 2007 RSL playoffs, will get one week to rest up for before their next test against NYAC.

The Chicago Lions also traveled to the East Coast to face the higher seeded Boston Rugby Club at home.  The Lions were able to jump out to a big enough lead in the first half so that Boston wouldn’t recover and the Lions advance to the semifinals with a convincing 49-15 victory over the No. 2 seed.

“The team played very, very well,” Chicago Lions Coach Marty Wiggins said. “We were able to minimize our mistakes, put pressure on Boston and capitalize on the mistakes they were making. That’s what playoff rugby is all about.”

The Chicago Lions now go on to face Belmont Shore in the semifinals in Long Beach. The third-ranked Belmont side had a seemingly easy 36-8 win over the Boston Irish Wolfhounds today at home.

The final two victors will face off in Glendale, Colo. at the USA Rugby Men’s Club Championships in Infinity Park on May 31, 2008. The match will be broadcast live at 8 p.m. (EDT) on ESPN Classic.

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