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As stated by captain George Williams, England were handed a stark "wake-up call" as the Kangaroos secured the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 victory at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a commanding series edge, making the upcoming sold-out third Test a meaningless fixture.

Shaun Wane's side had entered the series holding aspirations of sending the Kangaroos to their first Ashes series defeat since the 1970s.

In the past two years, they had secured a 3-0 series win over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a 22-year absence, England were failed to advance further against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough training periods to execute properly on the field, and it's clear we've quite done that," Williams commented.

"Australia deserve praise. They proved excellent defensively. But we've got a lot to improve. It seems not as good as we expected we were entering this series.

"This serves as a necessary reality check for us, and we have plenty to improve on."

Australia 'Turn Up and Are Clinical'

After being heavily outplayed in an sloppy showing at Wembley, England's were markedly enhanced on the weekend back in the core regions of England's north.

During an energetic first half, England forced mistakes from the Australians and had dominant territory and ball control, but importantly did not convert opportunities on the scoreboard.

Significantly, England have now scored just one score over the series so far, with St Helens hooker Daryl Clark scoring late on in the setback in the capital.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos have accumulated half a dozen in two games - and when mistakes began to affect the England's play just after the half-time, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be severely punished.

First Cameron Munster scored, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, England were down by double digits.

"Satisfied for the bulk of the game. I thought for most of the match we were solid," said Wane.

"The switch off for a brief period after the break cost us severely. The first try was easy and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"The team is deeply disappointed. So proud the squad had a fight but very frustrated with that post-interval, which cost us heavily."

While the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under next year, the team's immediate focus will be on attempting to regain respect, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the errors that annoyed the coach.

"I wanted to see greater effort directed toward the opposition. I wanted us to apply sustained attack in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. It's just a lack of precision in our attack where we could have applied under more pressure. We need to stop each of [tries] better.

"Fair play to the Kangaroos - that is no slight to them. They arrive and are ruthless when they get a chance, and we failed to be, but in defense we can and should do improve.

"The Australians will be obsessed to win all three Tests and we need to be obsessed to make it 2-1. I've told that to the squad. It has to be our primary goal. It will be a challenging week but whoever wants it the greatest will get the win next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Increase in Domestic Competition

England have played a comparable number of Test matches to Australia since the last World Cup in recent years.

However the coach thinks that the caliber of the NRL - and quality of the State of Origin matches between NSW and Queensland - deliver a more effective grounding for performing at the highest level of the global stage than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach commented that the congested domestic league fixture schedule left no time for him to work with his players during the campaign, which will only raise additional concerns around how England can close the divide to the Kangaroos before heading to Oceania in 2026.

"The Australians participate in a lot of internationals in their competition," he stated.

"We play 10-15 a year. We need highly competitive games to enhance the competition and improve our prospects of succeeding in these types of matches.

"I couldn't even train with the players. There was no chance to trained together in the season and I had the full backing of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the boots of the club managers that need to win games. The league is that tight. It's unfortunate but it's not the cause we lost today."