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In the words of leader the England captain, England were handed a stark "reality check" as the Kangaroos won the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' decisive 14-4 win at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a commanding series edge, making the upcoming final match in Leeds a meaningless fixture.

The national squad had entered the series dreaming of sending the Kangaroos to their first Ashes series defeat since 1970.

In the past two years, they had enjoyed a clean sweep over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a long break, England were failed to take the next step against the reigning title holders.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough preparations to execute properly on the field, and I don't think we've achieved that," Williams commented.

"Australia deserve praise. They were good in defense. But there's loads to address. It seems not as prepared as we expected we were entering this series.

"So it's a valuable reality check for us, and there is much to develop."

Australia 'Arrive and Prove Clinical'

After being heavily outplayed in an sloppy showing at the national stadium, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on Saturday back in the traditional strongholds of England's north.

During an energetic opening period, the home side elicited errors from the Australians and had dominant territory and ball control, but importantly did not capitalize on the points tally.

Notably, England have now managed just one score over two full matches, with St Helens hooker Daryl Clark powering through late on in the defeat in London.

On the other hand, Australia have accumulated half a dozen across the series - and when blunders began to appear in the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First the playmaker scored, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, England were trailing by 10.

"Proud for the majority of the game. I thought for most of the match we were competitive," said the coach.

"The switch off for 10 minutes after half-time damaged us greatly. The first try was soft and should never happen in a top-level game.

"We're devastated. So proud the players had a go but so disappointed with that post-interval, which proved costly heavily."

Although the next World Cup in Oceania is just under 12 months away, the team's primary concern will be on attempting to regain respect, preventing a clean sweep and eradicating the errors that frustrated the coach.

"I hoped to see greater effort thrown at the opposition. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. The issue is a lack of precision in our offense where we could have applied under greater stress. We need to stop each of [tries] with greater resolve.

"Fair play to Australia - that is no detriment to them. They perform and are clinical when they seize opportunities, and we failed to be, but in defense we must do better.

"The Australians will be obsessed to win the series whitewash and we need to be just as focused to make it 2-1. I've told that to the squad. This must become our primary goal. It will be a difficult week but whoever wants it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Needs to Increase in Domestic Competition

The English side have played a similar number of Test matches to the Kangaroos since the previous global tournament in 2022.

Yet Wane believes that the quality of the NRL - and level of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and QLD - provide a more effective grounding for performing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the Europe.

The England coach added that the hectic domestic league fixture list left no time for him to train his team during the campaign, which will only pose additional concerns around how the national team can narrow the difference to Australia before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"They play a large number of Test matches in their competition," he added.

"England have ten to fifteen a year. It's crucial really intense games to boost the competition and increase our chances of succeeding in these high-stakes fixtures.

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

"I have also been in the position of the head coaches that must to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we got beaten today."