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According to leader the England captain, the national team were given a stark "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos clinched the Rugby League Ashes.

Australia's 14-4 triumph at the stadium in Liverpool on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's final match in Leeds a academic contest.

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

In the past two years, they had achieved a dominant victory over Tonga and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a 22-year absence, the English were unable to advance further against the reigning title holders.

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

"Credit to Australia. They were good defensively. But we've got loads to work on. We're probably not as prepared as we thought we were going into this series.

"This serves as a necessary lesson for us, and [there is] loads to enhance."

Australia 'Show Up and Prove Merciless'

Having been heavily outplayed in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on Saturday back in the traditional strongholds of northern England.

In an inspiring initial stages, the home side forced mistakes from the Kangaroos and had superior positioning and possession, but crucially did not convert opportunities on the points tally.

Notably, the English team have now managed just one try over the series so far, with player the forward scoring late on in the loss in the capital.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos have racked up half a dozen across the series - and when errors began to creep into the hosts' play just after the break, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be severely punished.

Initially Cameron Munster went over, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, the home side were 10 points adrift.

"Satisfied for the majority of the game. In my view for most of the match we were solid," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after half-time hurt us immensely. The first try was soft and should never happen in a international fixture.

"We're heartbroken. Extremely pleased the players had a go but so disappointed with that after half-time, which cost us significantly."

While the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under 12 months away, England's immediate focus will be on attempting to restore some pride, avoiding a series whitewash and addressing the errors that annoyed the coach.

"I hoped to see greater effort thrown at Australia. I wanted us to build pressure in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. It's just a minor refinements in our offense where we could have applied under more pressure. We need to defend both [tries] more effectively.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no slight to them. They turn up and are merciless when they seize opportunities, and we weren't, but defensively we must do better.

"They will be determined to win all three Tests 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's going to be a tough week but whoever desires it the greatest will secure victory next week."

Intensity Needs to Increase in Domestic Competition

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

Yet the coach believes that the quality of the Australian league - and standard of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and QLD - provide a much better preparation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the Europe.

The England coach noted that the packed Super League calendar allowed no time for him to train his team during the campaign, which will only pose more issues around how England can close the divide to Australia before travelling to Oceania in 2026.

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

"England have ten to fifteen a year. It's crucial really intense games to enhance the competition and boost our prospects of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"It was impossible to even practice with the squad. There was no chance to trained together in the campaign and I had the total cooperation of all clubs in Super League.

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