Wins all the way for Durban High School at Coastal Cup
Durban High School (DHS) stole the show at the Belgotex Sport Coastal Cup, emerging as the only unbeaten team at the conclusion of the event on Monday.
In fact, after a weekend of very interesting hockey and results, DHS was the only unbeaten side, including both the Nomads and Founders festivals.
They opened their challenge with a 2-1 win over Paul Roos Gimnasium, which was a key result. It gave the side an injection of confidence for the rest of their fixtures.
“That was a defining moment,” DHS coach Keegan Hezlett admitted. “We spoke a lot about it before the game, saying that it’s not going to be the biggest game of our season. It is the start of the season. Obviously, we were determined to win it.
“We tried to get into a mental state where, regardless of the result, we were still in the right frame of mind going into the season. The big thing for us was whether we won or lost that game, could we get our processes right? Hopefully, the result would take care of itself.”
DHS followed up with a 3-1 win over Paarl Boys’ High, which made it School’s second successive victory over a team that had gone undefeated at the Coastal Cup in 2025. From there, they hit the afterburners, trouncing Menlopark 6-1 before closing with an impressive 6-3 defeat of Parel Vallei High on Monday.
The Capetonians were unbeaten in Durban until that point and had played some good hockey. With an experienced line-up that includes standout performers Stephan Malan, Luka Meets, and Luca Jordaan, and coming off a hard-fought 4-3 win over a high-flying Clifton College, they presented a tough challenge.
“I don’t think people realised how good that team is,” Hezlett said. “Then, they started to put together some good results at the Coastal Cup. As the festival progressed, we realised that the game against them was going to be a big one.”
DHS was up for it. They fell behind early, but responded superbly. “We started slowly. They scored early on, just two minutes in, so we were under a little pressure. But straight after that goal, the mindset from the boys was incredible,” Hezlett said. ”
“Immediately, we went into this next level of rhythm. For the next 10 minutes after conceding the goal, it was the best we have played. We scored two goals and then scored another one to go 3-1 up. We were playing with such confidence after that, which was cool to see.”
Reflecting on a very successful run, which was shown not only in the results but in the way that DHS played, Hezlett said: “Honestly, it was awesome. We spoke about enjoying the way we play – the boys’ enjoyment, doing all the right things, playing as a team, was exciting.
In the past, we’ve probably had a few too many guys playing a little bit too individually. It was epic to see everyone playing together as a team.”
Since Michael Baker was in charge before he took up the post of Director of Hockey at Paul Roos, DHS has become one of KwaZulu-Natal’s premier outfits, but they had stumbled against Western Cape sides in previous seasons. They had also played fantastic hockey up to the 23-metre line, but then struggled to score. At the Coastal Cup, they rectified both of those problems.
Hezlett enthused: “We have 18 goals in our first five games of the season, which is awesome. We already have a player with five goals, and our top scorer last season was on nine goals only. It’s awesome to have guys scoring goals and finding the back of the net.
“We have a strong group of forwards. There are five of them, and, at almost any other school, all five of them would start. They’re starting to understand that it is about them as a group, who are not necessarily competing against each other, but trying to make each other look good, which is really cool.”
Teams’ results
Paul Roos, after their loss to DHS, bounced back nicely. They produced a superb performance to beat a good Michaelhouse team 4-1 in their next outing. Next, they added successive 3-1 wins over Westville Boys’ High and St Alban’s College.
“House, meanwhile, also enjoyed a good festival. They beat St Alban’s 2-0 in their opener before losing to PRG. But that loss was followed by a 2-1 win over Paarl Boys’ High and a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Garsfontein in a match between Michaelhouse coach Nick Bérichon‘s former team and his current side.
Clifton College, after a rollicking 5-2 win over Paarl Boys’ High and a 2-1 win over Menlopark, came up frustratingly short in successive high-scoring games, going down 2-3 to Bishops and 3-4 to Parel Vallei.
Parel Vallei, apart from their loss to DHS and win over Clifton, drew goalless with Garsfontein and trounced Glenwood 7-0.
That big loss was a bump in the road for a Glenwood side that delivered an encouraging showing. They also beat St Alban’s 3-2 and edged out Menlopark 3-2. In their last outing, they fell 1-3 to St Andrew’s School.
The Bloemfontein boys played some entertaining hockey. They were off the pace in their first outing, a 1-3 loss to Westville, but they bounced back with a 3-3 draw against Garsfontein, which they followed with a thrilling 4-3 win over Bishops and, in their last match, that victory over Glenwood.
It was Bishops’ first time at the Coastal Cup. Apart from their loss to Saints, they beat Menlopark 3-1, sneaked by Clifton 3-2, and drew 2-2 with Westville.
Their fellow Capetonians, Paarl Boys’ High, lost 2-5 against Clifton, went down 1-3 against DHS, but then picked up a 2-1 win over Garsfontein. Michaelhouse beat them by the same score in Boishaai‘s last match.
The event, co-hosted by Westville, DHS, and Clifton, was also an encouraging one for Westville. They had played some good hockey in the build-up to the festival but had struggled to put together a complete game. They put that right with a win over St Andrew’s in their opener on Friday night.
They also scored a 2-2 draw with St Alban’s, fell 1-3 to Paul Roos, and drew 2-2 with Bishops.
Recording winning results was challenging for the trio of Pretoria schools.
Garsfontein held the high-powered Parel Vallei to a goalless draw, drew 3-3 with St Andrew’s, then suffered tight 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to Paarl Boys’ High and Michaelhouse, respectively.
Menlopark lost 1-3 to Bishops and 1-2 to Clifton. Next, they fell 2-3 to Glenwood before being swamped 6-1 by DHS.
St Alban’s went down 0-2 against Michaelhouse, lost 2-3 to Glenwood, drew 2-2 with Westville, and lost 1-3 against Paul Roos.
The growth of the Coastal Cup
Westville Boys’ High Director of Hockey, Cameron Mackay, who has taken a step back to coach the u14A side this year, reflected on the Coastal Cup, which he helped to co-found in 2023.
“It’s exactly where we want it to be,” he said. “We’ve tried to make it bigger and better every year, and I think we have found our limit in terms of the number of players we can handle. We have now expanded to about 670 players and 80 to 100 staff involved.
“We’re at a stage now where we’re happy with where we are. We have space for 13 schools, and this year we had 14, with Pearson not coming and St Andrew’s School taking their place.
Getting a school like Bishops involved has been quite cool. We have a healthy balance in terms of the schools that we have participating, and we have generated a lot of interest.
“We want schools to want to be at our tournament, and we’re trying to be the first choice tournament at this time of the year.”
He also had kind words for DHS, the event’s top team: “They’re playing so well. I’m glad Keegan Hezlett has helped them form his own kind of identity, which is important. I hope he can kick on.
“It’s a really nice group of DHS boys. They’re sweet kids, and they’re doing a fine job playing, as well.
“They’re scoring goals, and even Michael Baker, when he was at his best there, was struggling to score goals. The fact that they’re scoring five and sixes is really good news for them.”
RESULTS
1st XI
29 March
Glenwood 3-2 Menlopark
Bishops 3-2 Clifton College
Paarl Boys’ High 2-1 Garsfontein
St Andrew’s School 3-1 Glenwood
DHS 6-1 Menlopark
Paul Roos 3-1 Westville
Parel Vallei 4-3 Clifton College
Michaelhouse 2-1 Paarl Boys’ High
30 March
DHS 6-3 Parel Vallei
Paul Roos 3-1 St Alban’s
Westville 2-2 Bishops
Michaelhouse 1-0 Garsfontein
Under-16
29 March
Bishops 3-0 Pearson
Parel Vallei 4-1 Glenwood
DHS 5-1 Menlopark
Garsfontein 0-0 Paarl Boys’ High
Westville 2-0 St Alban’s
Paul Roos 1-1 Michaelhouse
Bishops 1-0 Clifton College
DHS 1-0 Parel Vallei
Menlopark 1-0 Glenwood
Pearson 4-1 Garsfontein
30 March
Pearson 4-2 Glenwood
Clifton 2-2 Parel Vallei
Paul Roos 5-0 St Alban’s
Bishops 2-1 Westville
Michaelhouse 2-0 Paarl Boys’ High
Under-14
29 March
Bishops 3-1 Clifton
Pearson 1-0 Glenwood
DHS 7-1 Paarl Boys’ High
Westville 1-0 St Alban’s
Paul Roos 1-0 Michaelhouse
Clifton 4-3 Parel Vallei”
Glenwood 3-1 Menlopark
Garsfontein 1-0 Paarl Boys’ High
Bishops 3-2 Pearson
Paul Roos 4-1 Westville
DHS 2-1 Parel Vallei
30 March
Menlopark 2-1 DHS
Paul Roos 5-0 St Alban’s
Garsfontein 1-1 Michaelhouse
Westville 2-0 Bishops
