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As stated by skipper George Williams, the national team were delivered a brutal "wake-up call" as the Kangaroos clinched the prestigious series.

Australia's 14-4 triumph at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's sold-out third Test a meaningless fixture.

The England team had entered the series holding aspirations of inflicting the Kangaroos to their first Ashes series defeat since 1970.

In the past two years, they had secured a dominant victory over the Tongan side and a success over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes returned after a long break, the English were unable to advance further against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough preparations to perform correctly on the pitch, and I don't think we've quite done that," Williams told.

"Full marks to the Kangaroos. They were good defensively. But there's plenty to work on. We're probably not as strong as we believed we were going into this series.

"This serves as a valuable lesson for us, and there is much to improve on."

Australia 'Arrive and Prove Ruthless'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an sloppy showing at Wembley, England's were much improved on Saturday back in the traditional strongholds of England's north.

In a rousing first half, England caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had all the field position and possession, but importantly did not capitalize on the scoreboard.

Tellingly, the English team have now scored just one try over the series so far, with player the forward barging over late on in the defeat in London.

Conversely, Australia have accumulated six so far - and when mistakes began to appear in the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be made to pay.

Initially the playmaker scored, and then so too did the forward. From being level at four-all, England were trailing by 10.

"Satisfied for the bulk of the game. I thought for 70 minutes we were solid," said the coach.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after half-time cost us greatly. Munster's try was avoidable and should never happen in a top-level game.

"The team is devastated. Extremely pleased the players had a dig but so disappointed with that after half-time, which cost us dearly."

While the upcoming global tournament in the Southern Hemisphere is just under a year from now, the team's short-term goal will be on attempting to salvage honor, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and addressing the mistakes that annoyed the coach.

"I hoped to see greater effort thrown at the opposition. I wanted us to maintain momentum in the game - we fell short last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. It's just a minor refinements in our offense where we could have put them under increased strain. We need to stop each of [tries] more effectively.

"Fair play to the Kangaroos - that is not a criticism to them. They perform and are ruthless when they get a chance, and we failed to be, but defensively we can and should do better.

"They will be focused to win the series whitewash and we need to be obsessed to make it a competitive series. I've said that to the players. It has to be our main aim. It will be a difficult week but the side that strives for it the most will get the win next week."

Intensity Must to Elevate in Super League

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

Yet Wane believes that the caliber of the NRL - and quality of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and QLD - provide a more effective foundation for performing at the highest level of the international game than what is available in the Europe.

Wane added that the packed Super League fixture schedule allowed no time for him to train his squad during the season, which will only raise additional concerns around how the national team can close the divide to Australia before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

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

"England play 10-15 a year. We need really intense games to boost the competition and boost our chances of winning these high-stakes fixtures.

"I couldn't even practice with the squad. We never got on the field in the season and I had the full backing of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the shoes of the head coaches that need to win games. The competition is that tight. It's a pity but that's not the cause we got beaten today."