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As stated by captain George Williams, England were given a harsh "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos clinched the Rugby League Ashes.

Australia's decisive 14-4 win at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making next week's Headingley encounter a academic contest.

Shaun Wane's side had entered the series dreaming of inflicting the Kangaroos to their initial series loss since 1970.

Recently, they had achieved a dominant victory over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the historic rivalry resumed after a two-decade hiatus, England were failed to advance further against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough sessions to get it right on the pitch, and it's clear we've managed that," the captain told.

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

"So it's a valuable lesson for us, and [there is] loads to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Prove Clinical'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an sloppy showing at Wembley, England's were much improved on the weekend back in the rugby league heartlands of northern England.

In an inspiring opening period, the home side forced mistakes from the Australians and had superior positioning and possession, but importantly did not make it count on the scoreboard.

Significantly, England have now managed just one score over the series so far, with St Helens hooker the forward scoring late on in the loss in the capital.

Conversely, Australia have scored half a dozen in two games - 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.

Initially the playmaker scored, and then so too did the forward. From being level at 4-4, the home side were down by double digits.

"Satisfied for the majority of the game. I thought for most of the match we were solid," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after the break damaged us severely. Munster's try was soft and should never happen in a Test match.

"The team is devastated. Extremely pleased the squad had a go but so disappointed with that second-half lapse, which proved costly significantly."

While the next World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under 12 months away, England's short-term goal will be on attempting to salvage honor, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the issues that irritated the coach.

"I hoped to see more directed toward Australia. I wanted us to maintain momentum in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. It's just a bit of detail in our offensive play where we could have applied under greater stress. We need to defend both [tries] more effectively.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is not a criticism to them. They perform and are ruthless when they get a chance, and we weren't, but defensively we can and should do better.

"They will be obsessed to win the series whitewash and we need to be just as focused to make it a competitive series. I've said that to the players. This must become our primary goal. It will be a difficult week but whoever desires it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Competitive Edge Must to Improve in Domestic Competition

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

However Wane thinks that the caliber of the NRL - and level of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and QLD - offer a superior foundation for performing at the highest level of the global stage than what is on offer in the northern hemisphere.

Wane noted that the congested domestic league fixture schedule left little opportunity for him to work with his team during the campaign, which will only pose further questions around how the national team can close the divide to the Kangaroos before heading to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"They play a lot of Test matches in their league," Wane added.

"We play ten to fifteen a year. It's crucial highly competitive games to enhance the competition and boost our chances of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even train with the squad. We never trained together in the campaign and I had the complete support of everyone in Super League.

"I have also been in the position of the head coaches that must to win games. The league is that congested. It's a pity but it's not the reason we lost today."