Wales must start recording wins over the big three Southern Hemisphere sides if they are to continue to progress in world rugby, according to Six Nations hero Paul James.
The Bath Rugby prop helped Wales retain their title with a 30-3 drubbing of England in Cardiff, which in turn ended the visitors' hopes of a first Grand Slam in a decade.
Having firmly established themselves as the top dogs in Europe, 45-cap James says his team must now look to claim the scalps of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
"It's got to be the next step," said 30-year-old James, who arrived at The Rec from Ospreys last summer.
"We've won back-to-back Six Nations titles now, so the next time we come across one of those teams we've really got to knuckle down and get the monkey off our back. I'm sure we'll be fine then.
"We've come so close. I think the last three or four times we've played Australia we've lost by one point.
"We are learning and gaining more experience as well. We have been through a lot of tough times and have come out the other side."
Although James says Wales always backed themselves to triumph in Saturday's Six Nations decider, the atmosphere inside the Millennium Stadium made their victory all the more special.
"We just believed in ourselves. We had a disappointing first game against Ireland and we knew more than anything we had to stick tight," said James.
"You don't turn into a bad team overnight, so we just went away, had a few words in-
house, worked hard and kept building our performances as the Six Nations went on.
"I've played in the Millennium Stadium a lot of times now. People say it's the best stadium in the world and I've never felt anything like that on Saturday.
"The atmosphere was unbelievable from both sets of fans.
"It was just a great place to be and be involved in, especially when they turned the lights out at the end."
James had the unusual challenge of coming face-to-face with fellow Bath prop Davey Wilson in Cardiff, as both were introduced as second-half replacements.
Wilson said: "There's been progress and we were disappointed with losing against Wales but it was always going to be a tough game.
"They were there to win it, we were there to win it and they got ahead early, took their chances and it changed the rest of the game.
"We are disappointed but there are still a lot of positives. Hopefully we can build on that and keep a similar squad together right up to the World Cup.
"Hopefully we can learn the lessons from the teams we get beaten by and keep it in the bank for when we need it."
