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

Australia's decisive 14-4 win at the stadium in Liverpool on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's final match in Leeds a academic contest.

The national squad had entered the series harbouring hopes of sending the Kangaroos to their initial series loss since 1970.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a 3-0 series win over Tonga and a success over Samoa. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a two-decade hiatus, the English were failed to advance further against the reigning title holders.

"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 strong in defense. But there's plenty to work on. We're probably not as strong as we believed we were going into this series.

"So it's a valuable lesson for us, and we have plenty to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Prove Clinical'

After being heavily outplayed in an sloppy showing at Wembley, England's were significantly better on the weekend back in the traditional strongholds of the North.

In a rousing opening period, England elicited errors from the Australians and had dominant territory and possession, but importantly did not make it count on the scoreboard.

Significantly, the English team have now scored just a single touchdown over two full matches, with player the forward powering through late on in the setback in the capital.

Conversely, Australia have racked up half a dozen in two games - and when errors began to appear in the England's play just after the interval, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be heavily penalized.

Initially the playmaker went over, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, England were down by double digits.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. In my view for 70 minutes we were good," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after half-time cost us greatly. Munster's try was soft and should not be scored in a international fixture.

"We're devastated. Extremely pleased the squad had a dig but very frustrated with that second-half lapse, which hurt us significantly."

While the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under next year, England's immediate focus will be on attempting to salvage honor, avoiding a series whitewash and eliminating the mistakes that frustrated Wane.

"I hoped to see greater effort thrown at Australia. My aim was us to build pressure in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. It's just a minor refinements in our attack where we could have put them under more pressure. It's essential to stop each of [tries] with greater resolve.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no detriment to them. They turn up and are merciless when they get a chance, and we weren't, but in defense we can and should do better.

"They will be determined to win all three Tests and we need to be equally determined to make it a competitive series. I've told that to the players. This must become our main aim. It will be a tough week but the side that strives for it the greatest will get the win next week."

Intensity Needs to Improve in Super League

England have played a similar number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the previous global tournament in recent years.

However the coach thinks that the strength of the Australian league - and quality of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and Queensland - offer a much better foundation for competing at the highest level of the global stage than what is available in the Europe.

Wane noted that the congested Super League fixture list allowed no time for him to work with his team during the campaign, which will only pose more issues around how England can narrow the difference to Australia before heading to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"They participate in a lot of internationals in their competition," Wane added.

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

"I couldn't even train with the squad. There was no chance to trained together in the season and I had the total cooperation of all clubs in the domestic competition.

"I understand in the boots of the head coaches that must to win games. The competition is that tight. It's unfortunate but it's not the reason we got beaten today."