IESTYN Harris celebrated his first taste of success as Wales head coach after watching his side overcome Scotland 28-16 yesterday to lift the rugby- league.com European Cup.
Wales followed up their group wins over Serbia and Ireland by twice coming from behind to triumph at Bridgend and avenge their World Cup qualifying defeat by the Scots.
Victory came just four matches into Harris' reign and he is confident his yo
ung side can go on to achieve even more success in the future.
"It's been real good to get a taste of it," he said. "To have a team of my own has been a good learning curve for me. It's great to win but to manage a group and learn how to manage a group has been really good for my development. But it's easy when you've got a group willing to learn and willing to succeed.
"We've a young group, with a lot of 18, 19 and 20-year-old kids who were pretty raw when we got hold of them four weeks ago. We challenged them with their skill levels and with the way we wanted them to play the game. They started off a bit scratchy but they improved out of sight.
"What has really pleased me is not just the victory but the way they've played the last two or three games. They've been exciting to watch and they've got a dogged defence and will to win.
"It's a good mix and, if we can keep on improving in the next two or three years, we'll be pretty strong for the 2013 World Cup."
Scotland led 16-14 at half-time thanks to a hat-trick of tries from centre Mick Nanyn in response to scores by Wales from Ashley Bateman, Ben Flower and Elliot Kear.
The Welsh pulled away in the second half and clinched victory thanks to further tries through Christian Roets, Lloyd White and Rhys Williams.
"Scotland had a lot of experienced players who were physical and really flew into us defensively," added Harris. "I thought for a young set of guys to stand up to that and carry on with their game plan was pretty impressive."
Scotland coach Steve McCormack said: "I'm very proud of all the players but we were certainly beaten by a better side. I thought Wales played exceptionally well. It was a game of small margins. We didn't take our chances that we created whereas they took every chance they had bar one.
"We fell well short, which is disappointing, but it's a fantastic tournament and we're certainly looking forward to next year."
