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As stated by captain the England captain, the national team were delivered a stark "reality check" as Australia won the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' decisive 14-4 win at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's final match in Leeds a meaningless fixture.

The national squad had entered the series holding aspirations of sending Australia to their first Ashes series defeat since the 1970s.

Over the last 24 months, they had enjoyed a clean sweep over Tonga and a success over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition resumed after a long break, the English were failed to advance further against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough training periods to get it right on the field, and it's clear we've achieved that," Williams told.

"Credit to Australia. They were good defensively. But there's a lot to address. We're probably not as good as we believed we were entering this series.

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

Australia 'Arrive and Are Merciless'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an error-strewn display at the national stadium, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on Saturday back in the rugby league heartlands of the North.

In a rousing opening period, England caused turnovers from the Australians and had all the field position and possession, but unfortunately did not capitalize on the points tally.

Notably, England have now managed just one score over 160 minutes, with player Daryl Clark barging over late on in the setback in London.

In contrast, the Kangaroos have accumulated six across the series - and when errors began to affect the England's 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 four-all, England were 10 points adrift.

"Proud for the majority of the game. I thought for 70 minutes we were good," said Wane.

"The switch off for 10 minutes after the break cost us severely. The first try was easy and should never happen in a top-level game.

"The team is heartbroken. Extremely pleased the squad had a go but very frustrated with that post-interval, which hurt us heavily."

Although the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under a year from now, the team's primary concern will be on trying to salvage honor, avoiding a clean sweep and addressing the mistakes that irritated Wane.

"I wanted to see additional intensity directed toward Australia. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. It's just a bit of detail in our offense where we could have put them under greater stress. It's essential to stop each of [tries] more effectively.

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

"The Australians will be focused to win all three Tests and we need to be equally determined to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the players. It has to be our primary goal. It's going to be a tough week but the side that wants it the greatest will get the win next week."

Intensity Needs to Improve in Super League

The English side have played a comparable number of Test matches to Australia since the last World Cup in recent years.

However Wane believes that the strength of the Australian league - and quality of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and QLD - provide a much better grounding for competing at the highest level of the global stage than what is on offer in the UK.

Wane added that the congested domestic league fixture list left no time for him to work with his squad during the campaign, which will only raise additional concerns around how the national team can close the divide to Australia before travelling to Oceania in 2026.

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

"England play 10-15 a year. It's crucial demanding games to improve the domestic league and boost our chances of winning these types of matches.

"I couldn't even practice with the players. We never got on the field in the season and I had the complete support of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the shoes of the club managers that need to win games. The league is that congested. It's unfortunate but it's not the cause we got beaten today."