16 April 2026
Much like the rugby season, the hockey season has started very unpredictably. It has been fascinating, and, as they have done on the rugby front, teams from KwaZulu-Natal have made waves.
The most eye-opening hockey result of 2026 belongs to Northwood, who upset SACS 4-2 at the Founders Festival. Until then, the Cape Town powerhouse had run roughshod over its opponents. Notably, too, SACS defeated Grey High, who had been beaten only once this season, 3-1 in the Mother City this past weekend.
SACS will defend the Standard Bank Hibbert Shield, featuring 16 of South Africa’s leading teams, from 24-27 April at Grey High School in Gqeberha, and KZN’s contingent – Clifton College, Durban High School (DHS), and Westville Boys’ High – will feel their chances of making a big impact are better than ever before. All three have been in fine form.
Clifton has been one of the most interesting and exciting teams in the early part of the season. They made their mark before the end-of-term festivals, heading into the Belgotex Sport Coastal Cup unbeaten, and they opened up with successive victories, very impressively downing Paarl Boys’ High 5-2 before a tighter 2-1 win over Menlopark.
They lost their undefeated record, however, when they suffered successive one-goal losses against the Western Cape’s Parel Vallei and Bishops.
That left a bitter taste in the Durban school’s mouth, but they had a chance to quickly wash it out at the St Stithians Easter Festival, only days later. They grabbed that opportunity with both hands, beating Falcon College 3-2 and St Stithians 1-0 before being held to a 1-1 draw by Pretoria Boys High. After that, coach Calvin Price‘s charges downed Reddam House Constantia 2-1 and Affies 5-4.
“We had a nice win against Affies. We were really chuffed with it,” Price said. “We also had a nice win against Saints, the hosts, which is never an easy fixture.
“Overall, we were very happy with the performance of the boys.”
Crucially, the successive one-goal defeats of the Coastal Cup became four one-goal wins at the Saints Easter Festival.
“In the past, sometimes Clifton hasn’t had that winning culture,” Price admitted, “but with the victories at the end, we were very chuffed with that. The boys want to win. It’s a great culture which we’re investing in the boys.”
Even in their defeats at the Coastal Cup, though, Clifton showed plenty of fight, which they will need at the Hibbert Shield, currently the toughest hockey tournament in the country.
“I think the boys were absolutely gutted with those results. Against Parel Vallei, we were 0-3 down in the first eight minutes. We pulled it back. We won the second half 3-1. Those were lessons learnt, and the same against Bishops, where we were 0-2 down, we brought it back to 2-1,” Price said.
“They say you learn more from the losses than you do from the wins, so we learnt a lot from those two, and we took them to the Saints Festival, where we were very, very chuffed with the results.”
Despite their strong record in 2026, Clifton is not buying into the big dog mentality. “I still love the underdog mentality that I think we have,” Price reckoned. “I said to the boys on Monday that the Hibbert Shield is the stage we want to be on.
“We were very good last year, finishing seventh, the best of the KZN teams, so we are hoping to better that. We have a great opportunity to do that.”
One of the reasons for Clifton’s success this season is their goal-hungry duo up front, Dan Rea and Dan Holliday. “They call them Dan Squared,” Price shared. “They are outstanding. Then you’ve got a guy like Khaya (Mbhenze), who comes on and does his job. He allows them to combine well. He plays a crucial role in that part [of the field].
“I am really looking forward to seeing them against the Paul Roos back four and the Selborne back four. They do the dirty work very well, and that is what we want.”
The fourth member of Clifton’s Pool B at the Hibbert Shield will be St Stithians, and the Durban boys know another tough test awaits them from the Johannesburg side.
An area of focus for Clifton ahead of the tournament has been their defence. “We leaked a few goals, which I wasn’t too impressed about at Saints. It’s all good that we are scoring at the other end, but I still want us to have a defensive pride in our final third. We’re aiming to tighten that up,” Price commented.
“Tye Milne has been outstanding in the back four with quite a young group. We want to make sure that we tighten up on the man-marking, ensuring we get in front of our players, and defend with pride.”
With a tasty clash against a high-flying St Andrew’s School side this weekend having been called off, Clifton has lined up Glenwood High for a Thursday night game, starting at 17:00.
“It’s a nice one to get us ready for the Hibbert Shield,” said Price, who feels Glenwood’s performances have not been properly reflected in their record.
“I think they’ve been very unlucky. Braydon Naidoo is doing an outstanding job there. It’s a young side, so we’ll be worried about them in the years to come.”
This past weekend, Glenwood came back from 0-2 down to force a 2-2 draw with Maritzburg College.
At the Coastal Cup, they beat St Alban’s and Menlopark, but went down against Parel Vallei and St Andrew’s School. More recently, at the KES Easter Festival, they won against Eldoraigne, drew against Waterkloof, and lost against Grey College and Pearson.
Importantly, they pass the eye test. They are well-structured and have a game plan.
DHS remains unbeaten in 2026 after winning their four matches at the Coastal Cup. They’ve also been out of action for longer than some of the other sides, with School also not in action last weekend. They’ll face a demanding challenge when they take on Northwood this week.
DHS showed off a sharp edge at the Coastal Cup, where they also beat Paul Roos Gimnasium 2-1, finally getting one over the Stellenbosch powerhouse, which is led by the former DHS Director of Hockey, Michael Baker.
They also outplayed Paarl Boys’ High 3-1, overran Menlopark 6-1, and, impressively, ran out 6-3 winners over Parel Vallei. With 19 goals in five matches thus far in 2026, School hasn’t struggled to score, and that’s excellent news for them.
Despite their many successes in recent years, goal-scoring has been the biggest challenge for DHS. Up to the opposition’s 23-metre line, they’ve been as good as any other side in the country. However, their finishing had not been as sharp as it needed to be.
After the Coastal Cup, coach Keegan Hezlett said his team was enjoying their hockey, and they were successful because they played as one unit.
“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,” he said.
In recent editions of the Hibbert Shield, DHS has found their challenge undermined by SACS, the best team in the country in 2024 and 2025, in the pool stage of the competition. This year, though, they’re in Pool A, up against St Alban’s College, Parel Vallei, and Grey High School.
Westville Boys’ High is in Pool C. Their opponents are SACS, Garsfontein, and Grey College. After making a slow start to the season, the Griffins have hit a purple patch, and they’ll be eager to continue their winning ways in Gqeberha.
They scored one of their most impressive wins of the season this past Saturday, beating Northwood 3-2. Before that, they won their four matches at the KES Easter Festival, beating Parktown Boys’ High 4-0, St John’s College 3-2, Grey College 4-2, and Selborne College 1-0.
Maintaining their confidence will be one of the keys for Westville, and that will be put to the test in their opening game against SACS on Friday, 24 April. Much could depend on that outcome.
KZN HIBBERT SHIELD POOL FIXTURES
Friday, 24 April
Grey High
07:30 – DHS vs St Alban’s
10:15 – Clifton vs Paul Roos
13:00 – Westville vs SACS
Collegiate
15:45 – Clifton vs Selborne
Saturday, 25 April
Grey High
07:30 – Westville vs Garsfontein
11:30 – DHS vs Parel Vallei
14:15 – Clifton vs St Stithians
18:30 – Westville vs Grey College
Playoffs to follow on Sunday and Monday.
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