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In the words of leader George Williams, the national team were handed a harsh "sobering lesson" as Australia clinched the Rugby League Ashes.

The Kangaroos' decisive 14-4 win at the Merseyside venue on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making the upcoming final match in Leeds a academic contest.

The England team had come into the series holding aspirations of sending the Kangaroos to their initial series loss since over five decades ago.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a clean sweep over Tonga and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a two-decade hiatus, the English were unable to advance further against the reigning title holders.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough preparations to perform correctly on the field, and it's clear we've quite done that," Williams told.

"Australia deserve praise. They proved good defensively. But there's plenty to address. It seems not as prepared as we believed we were entering this series.

"This serves as a necessary reality check for us, and there is much to enhance."

Australia 'Arrive and Are Merciless'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an sloppy showing at the national stadium, Wane side's were significantly better on Saturday back in the rugby league heartlands of the North.

In an inspiring initial stages, England caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory and possession, but unfortunately did not convert opportunities on the scoreboard.

Significantly, England have now scored just a single touchdown over the series so far, with St Helens hooker Daryl Clark barging over late on in the setback in London.

On the other hand, Australia have scored six so far - and when mistakes began to appear in the hosts' play just after the break, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be severely punished.

First Cameron Munster scored, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, the home side were trailing by 10.

"Satisfied for the bulk of the game. In my view for 70 minutes we were solid," said the coach.

"The drop in intensity for a brief period after the break damaged us severely. Munster's try was easy and should not be scored in a international fixture.

"We're devastated. Extremely pleased the players had a fight but very frustrated with that after half-time, which hurt us significantly."

Although the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under next year, the team's immediate focus will be on trying to restore some pride, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and addressing the issues that annoyed Wane.

"I wanted to see greater effort directed toward Australia. I wanted us to apply sustained attack in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We did this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our offensive play where we could have put them under more pressure. We need to defend both [tries] with greater resolve.

"Fair play to the Kangaroos - that is not a criticism to them. They turn up and are merciless when they capitalize, and we failed to be, but defensively we can and should do better.

"They will be obsessed to win 3-0 and we need to be just as focused to make it a competitive series. I've told that to the players. It has to be our obsession. It's going to be a difficult week but whoever wants it the most will secure victory next week."

Intensity Must to Increase in Super League

The English side have participated in a comparable number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the previous global tournament in 2022.

Yet Wane believes that the strength of the Australian league - and level of the State of Origin matches between NSW and QLD - offer a much better grounding for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the Europe.

Wane noted that the packed domestic league fixture schedule left no time for him to train his squad during the campaign, which will only raise more issues around how the national team can bridge the gap to the Kangaroos before heading to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"They play a large number of internationals in their league," he remarked.

"We play 10-15 a year. It's crucial highly competitive games to enhance the competition and boost our prospects of succeeding in these high-stakes fixtures.

"I couldn't even practice with the players. There was no chance to got on the field in the campaign and despite having the full backing of all clubs in Super League.

"I understand in the shoes of the head coaches that must to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but it's not the cause we were defeated today."