29 March 2025
Michaelhouse and Parel Vallei produced a thrilling opening game of the Belgotex Sport Coastal Cup on Friday, at the Riverside Sports Club, in Durban, a seven-goal thriller, won by ‘House, who netted three times in the last chukka to overcome a 1-3 deficit.
For three chukkas, Parel Vallei looked comfortable, but coach Nick Bérichon‘s boys dominated the fourth to seize a stunning 4-3 victory, with goals from Sithsaba Simukonda, Gordon Deutscher, Luke Camerer, and Henry Love. More than anything, their win spoke volumes about the character of the side.
Bérichon was thrilled with the way his team kept its composure, its self-belief, and finished with so well, but, he said, they need to work on starting better.
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Discussing the fourth chukka domination by his side, Bérichon said: “When it did get a little bit loose, it played into our hands. We know that Cape schools like to play with a lot of structure and control and be patient and move the ball around nicely, so we expected to do a lot of defending and hope that we took our chances on the counterattack.”
Heading into his second season in charge of the 1st team has been a very different experience to his first season, he added: “Everyone is pulling in the right direction. Our whole system back at Michaelhouse is working. It was a pleasure for me to click my fingers at the start of the season and guys knew what we were doing tactically, even though they hadn’t been in the group.
“That allows us to spend more time on improving their skill sets, technically, which is what we want to do, and less time tactically.”
On the Riverside 2 Astro, Glenwood found Bérichon’s former team, Garsfontein, to be a tough out, and the Pretoria side recorded a comfortable 4-0 victory.
Next up was Clifton College versus Paarl Boys’ High and Pearson against Menlopark. Unfortunately, the rain that had been falling all day intensified, which led to the players being pulled from the field barely a minute into their games. Later, play resumed, but those two games were lost.
Westville Boys’ High showed up well in the early going against Paul Roos Gimnasium, but coach Michael Baker‘s team withstood the early challenge and then made took the game away from the local side, running out 6-0 winners, with Logan Mackay and Matt Cardoza grabbing a double each and Ruben Gouws and Charles Lombard scoring, too.
Durban High School (DHS) was frustrated by St Alban’s College and the slow turf, as a result of the heavy rain, which prevented the Horseflies from employing their usual high tempo play. They struggled to finish, but St Alban’s struck twice to come away with an unexpected 2-1 win. DHS, after all, had beaten Michaelhouse 4-1 in their last outing.
RESULTS
Michaelhouse 4-3 Parel Vallei
Garsfontein 4-0 Glenwood
Paul Roos 6-0 Westville
St Alban’s 2-1 DHS.
Saturday, 29 March
Riverside 1
09:30 – St Alban’s vs Paul Roos
11:00 – Clifton vs Pearson
12:30 – Garsfontein vs Michaelhouse
14:00 – Paarl Boys vs Glenwood
15:30 – Menlopark vs Parel Vallei
17:00 – Westville vs St Alban’s
18:30 – DHS vs Paul Roos
Riverside 2
18:30 – Clifton vs Garsfontein
Sunday, 30 March
09:30 – DHS vs Menlopark
11:00 – St Alban’s vs Michaelhouse
12:30 – Westville vs Pearson
14:00 – Garsfontein vs Parel Vallei
15:30 – Menlopark vs Glenwood
17:00 – DHS vs Paarl Boys
18:30 – Paul Roos vs Michaelhouse
Monday, 31 March
08:00 – Pearson vs Glenwood
09:30 – Clifton vs Parel Vallei
11:00 – Westville vs Paarl Boys
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