Glenwood, Paarl Boys and Parel Vallei sign off Coastal Cup with wins
Parel Vallei, Glenwood High, and Paarl Boys’ High wrapped up the action at the Belgotex Sport Coastal Cup with a trio of wins in the last three matches of the festival at the Riverside Sports Club, in Durban, on Monday.
Durban High School (DHS), Westville Boys’ High, and Clifton College co-hosted the four-day hockey extravaganza.
“It was incredible and it is definitely going from strength to strength,” Westville’s Cameron Mackay, one of the event’s organisers, said after four days of action-packed hockey.
“This weekend we saw a great display of some of the incredible talent we have in schoolboy hockey at the moment.”
Glenwood edged out Pearson 1-0, Parel Vallei overcame Clifton 2-0, and Paarl Boys won 1-0 against Westville on the final day.
It was a morale-boosting festival for Paarl Boys’ High, who closed it with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Westville Boys’ High early on Monday afternoon.
“I’m a proud coach. We took our opportunities when they were presented to us and I believe that was the difference at the end of the day,” Rowan McLachlan, the Paarl Boys’ High coach, told SuperSport Schools Plus after the final game.
He knew the Booishaai defence would be tested at the Coastal Cup, said McLachlan, so they worked hard to fortify it before leaving Cape Town. The results of that work showed on the AstroTurf, with Boys’ High conceding only three goals in four games. In two of their outings, they kept clean sheets.
McLachlan’s charges beat Glenwood 3-0, registered a 4-2 victory over Clifton College, drew 1-1 with Durban High School (DHS), and edged out Westville 1-0 in their last match to finish the event with an undefeated record.
“I’m very happy with how our players performed,” he declared. “Travelling up to Durban and playing in this humidity against some of the best in the country was never going to be an easy task, but I’m very happy with the professional manner in which our team approached every game.”
Parel Vallei was clinical with their circle entry conversions to outcomes. They scored 13 times on their way to three wins in four games. Four of those 13 goals came in their contest against Garsfontein on Saturday. Liyema Jijana and Luka Meets netted twice each in a closely contested 4-3 win.
Jijama was on target again on Monday in their 2-0 win over Clifton, with Luca Jordaan adding the other goal.
“We are happy with the way the festival went. As a coaching staff, we are happy with the brand of hockey we are playing,” Michael van Rensberg, the Parel Vallei head coach, said after his team signed off with the victory over Clifton.
Parel Vallei finished with the second-most goals scored at the festival. However, while Van Rensberg was happy with the team’s efficient attack, he wasn’t as happy with the defensive efforts.
“We have some work to do on our defence,” he said. “We leaked too many goals and showed a lack of composure at times, which we will need to improve on heading back home. This cost us being 3-1 up against Michaelhouse with a quarter to go, and losing 3-4 in the end. We learned the hard way that games are played over 60 minutes, not 45,” Van Rensberg reckoned.
Glenwood had a difficult start to their campaign. The KwaZulu-Natal side suffered losses to Garsfontein and Paarl Boys’ High on Friday and Saturday. Braydon Naidoo, the Glenwood head of hockey, chalked those defeats down to what they had gone through as a team over the past two weeks.
“The first two days of the festival were challenging for us given what happened to our hockey programme and the tragedy,” he said, referring to the passing of grade 10 learner, Kaden Moodley, who collapsed while preparing for a match on 18 March. “I think we were still feeling the after-effects of that,” he explained.
Glenwood found their feet, though, and played a fast-paced brand of hockey, utilising space and quick movement on and off the ball. That was the key to their 2-0 win over Menlopark on Saturday and it again proved the right recipe in a 1-0 victory against Pearson on Monday.
Xaydon Kariko led the Green Machine to victory over Menlopark with a brace, while Murray Wicks slotted the winner against Pearson.
“Suffering two losses early in the festival isn’t easy, but the boys showed resilience and grit to bounce back,” Naidoo said.
The 2025 edition of the Coastal Cup was the third installment of the festival. The event, which attracted 10 schools in its first two years, was bolstered to 12 schools in its third edition. With an outstanding collection of top teams, this year’s programme set a benchmark for future events to match or even outdo.
“Our goal is to bring like-minded schools together to get four competitive games and have all three age groups in one place, so directors can have a chance to see all their teams play,” Mackay explained.
RESULTS
1st XI
Glenwood 1-0 Pearson
Parel Vallei 2-0 Clifton
Paarl Boys 1-0 Westville
U16
Clifton 4-4 Parel Vallei
Westville 0-0 Paarl Boys
Glenwood 5-2 Pearson
U14s
Paarl Boys 2-1 Westville
Glenwood 4-0 Pearson
Paul Roos 13-0 St Alban’s
