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As stated by leader the England captain, England were handed a stark "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos secured the prestigious series.

Australia's 14-4 victory at the Merseyside venue on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making the upcoming Headingley encounter a meaningless fixture.

The national squad had come into the series holding aspirations of sending the Kangaroos to their first Ashes series defeat since over five decades ago.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a dominant victory over Tonga and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the historic rivalry returned after a long break, the English were failed to advance further against the reigning title holders.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough preparations to perform correctly on the pitch, and I don't think we've achieved that," Williams stated.

"Credit to Australia. They proved strong defensively. But we've got a lot to work on. We're probably not as prepared as we thought we were going into this series.

"This serves as a good lesson for us, and [there is] loads to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Are Clinical'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an sloppy showing at the national stadium, Wane side's were much improved on the weekend back in the core regions of the North.

In an inspiring first half, the home side elicited errors from the Australians and had all the field position and possession, but unfortunately did not make it count on the points tally.

Notably, England have now managed just a single touchdown over 160 minutes, with player the forward scoring late on in the defeat in the capital.

On the other hand, Australia have scored six across the series - and when mistakes began to creep into the England's play just after the break, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be made to pay.

First Cameron Munster crossed, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being level at four-all, England were down by double digits.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. In my view for most of the match we were solid," said Wane.

"The lapse for 10 minutes after the break cost us severely. Munster's try was avoidable and should not be scored in a Test match.

"The team is heartbroken. So proud the squad had a fight but so disappointed with that after half-time, which hurt us dearly."

Although the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under next year, England's primary concern will be on trying to restore some pride, preventing a series whitewash and addressing the errors that annoyed the coach.

"I hoped to see greater effort directed toward Australia. My aim was us to apply sustained attack in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. The issue is a lack of precision in our attack where we could have applied under increased strain. We need to stop each of [tries] better.

"Credit to Australia - that is no slight to them. They arrive and are ruthless when they get a chance, and we weren't, but in defense we can and should do better.

"They will be focused to win the series whitewash and we need to be just as focused to make it a competitive series. I've told that to the squad. This must become our main aim. It will be a tough week but whoever wants it the most will secure victory next week."

Intensity Needs to Improve in Super League

England have played a similar number of international fixtures to Australia since the previous global tournament in 2022.

However the coach argues that the quality of the Australian league - and quality of the State of Origin matches between NSW and QLD - offer a more effective preparation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

Wane noted that the packed domestic league fixture schedule left no time for him to coach his players during the campaign, which will only raise further questions around how the national team can narrow the difference to Australia before heading to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"The Australians play a lot of Test matches in their league," Wane added.

"England have 10-15 a year. We need demanding games to boost the competition and increase our chances of winning these sorts of games.

"It was impossible to even practice with the squad. There was no chance to trained together in the season and I had the total cooperation of all clubs in Super League.

"I have also been in the shoes of the club managers that must to win games. The competition is that tight. It's unfortunate but that's not the cause we got beaten today."