Ten games into the Texas girls HS season, Kingwood has taken 291 points without giving up any. Every player on the 1st team, subs included, has scored. Five fresh players have been trained to take the places of the five graduated starting seniors, and Kingwood is realizing the benefits.

“We’ve been so close for three years; we’re always in the top three,” Head Coach Josh Dill said. “So, this year was a little bit of a surprise for us. The team votes whether they want to take off for holidays or if they want to practice, and they’re always ready to work. With their mentality, they’re just reaping the rewards of their work ethic.”

Although some players may have a parent that played rugby, each of Dill’s players never played before. Half of the new recruits usually have never played a sport in general before rugby, which is a testament to the program Dill and assistant coach Nick Carline have built with the help of their veteran players.

“There are some players who have never done a sport which involves catching a ball,” Dill said. “It’s starting from bare nothing.”

First year player and prop Tori Wilson did play football before joining Kingwood rugby and contributed to the success within the forward pack with her brutal hits and dominating strength. Wilson brought the physical experience to Kingwood that the other players could feed from. And although Wilson and Kingwood’s captains are graduating this year, Dill has a few players in mind that will continue the intensity through the team such as sweeper and kicker Mackenzie Borchers.

Nevertheless, every team in Rugby Texas has to deal with inexperience, and every team has athletes that can dominate on the pitch. So, how is Kingwood 10-0 against teams faced with the same difficulties?

“It’s their work ethic,” Dill said. “These girls sacrifice and buy in to the system that me and my assistant coach put in. We don’t like to treat them like girls learning to play rugby. During the recruitment clinics, we take it easy on them. We joke that the team is in the dating stage, but as soon as the season starts, they’re married.”

Kingwood still has a few more 7s tournaments to look towards with Plano being their biggest competition. Yet, Dill expects an overall successful season and hopefully a continuous undefeated one.