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According to captain the England captain, England were delivered a harsh "reality check" as the Kangaroos won the prestigious series.

Australia's decisive 14-4 win at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making the upcoming sold-out third Test a dead rubber.

The national squad had entered the series harbouring hopes of sending the Kangaroos to their maiden Ashes setback since the 1970s.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a 3-0 series win over Tonga and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a two-decade hiatus, England were failed to make the leap against the top-ranked team.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough training periods to execute properly on the field, and it's clear we've managed that," Williams stated.

"Australia deserve praise. They were strong defensively. But there's a lot to improve. It seems not as prepared as we believed we were going into this series.

"This serves as a necessary reality check for us, and [there is] loads to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Are Ruthless'

Having been soundly beaten in an error-strewn display at Wembley, England's were markedly enhanced on Saturday back in the core regions of northern England.

In a rousing initial stages, the home side forced mistakes from the Kangaroos and had superior positioning and ball control, but crucially did not convert opportunities on the scoreboard.

Significantly, England have now managed just one try over 160 minutes, with St Helens hooker the forward powering through late on in the setback in London.

Conversely, Australia have scored six in two games - and when blunders began to appear in the hosts' play just after the half-time, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be heavily penalized.

Initially Cameron Munster went over, 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. I thought for 70 minutes we were competitive," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after half-time damaged us greatly. The first try was soft and should not be scored in a Test match.

"The team is deeply disappointed. Extremely pleased the squad had a go but very frustrated with that second-half lapse, which hurt us heavily."

Although the upcoming global tournament in the Southern Hemisphere is just under next year, England's immediate focus will be on attempting to salvage honor, preventing a clean sweep and eradicating the errors that irritated the coach.

"I wanted to see greater effort thrown at Australia. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we fell short last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We did this week. It's just a minor refinements in our offensive play where we could have applied under greater stress. It's essential to stop each of [tries] better.

"Credit to Australia - that is not a criticism to them. They turn up and are clinical when they get a chance, and we weren't, but defensively we must do improve.

"They will be obsessed to win 3-0 and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the squad. This must become our main aim. It will be a challenging week but the side that wants it the greatest will get the win next week."

Intensity Needs to Improve in Domestic Competition

The English side have played a similar number of international fixtures to Australia since the previous global tournament in recent years.

Yet the coach thinks that the quality of the Australian league - and standard of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and Queensland - provide a superior preparation for competing at the top of the global stage than what is on offer in the UK.

Wane noted that the congested domestic league fixture schedule allowed little opportunity for him to work with his squad during the campaign, which will only pose further questions around how England can bridge the gap to Australia before heading to Oceania in the next World Cup.

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

"England play 10-15 a year. We need demanding games to improve the domestic league and increase our chances of succeeding in these types of matches.

"It was impossible to even train with the squad. There was no chance to trained together in the season and despite having the complete support of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the boots of the club managers that must to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we lost today."