The excitement is etched across the faces of Rubin and Joel Colwill as the brothers discuss playing together for Cardiff. As kids in Neath, about 30 miles north-west of the Welsh capital, they were regulars at Melyn Park, over the road from the family home, and spent hours perfecting two-touch skills in the back garden. “When we were small I got a marker pen and drew a goal on the hallway door and our mother was fuming,” Rubin says, both of them breaking into laughter.
They are separated by two and a half years but have always been close and Joel, who turns 21 this month, was best man at Rubin’s wedding this year. Growing up they lived each other’s journeys, both associated with Cardiff from the age of seven, and their parents, Richard and Jodi, ferried them to training. They attended Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera, the same secondary school as Ben Davies, the Wales defender poised to win his 100th cap in their World Cup qualifier against Belgium on 13 October. Then there were the bunk beds. “Yeah, we had a lot of WWE matches on those,” Rubin says, smiling.
