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As stated by skipper the England captain, England were given a stark "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos secured the Rugby League Ashes.

Australia's 14-4 triumph at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making the upcoming final match in Leeds a academic contest.

The national squad had come into the series dreaming of inflicting Australia to their initial series loss since 1970.

In the past two years, they had secured a 3-0 series win over the Tongan side and a success over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition returned after a long break, the English were unable to make the leap against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough sessions to execute properly on the field, and it's clear we've achieved that," the captain told.

"Full marks to the Kangaroos. They proved excellent defensively. But we've got a lot to work on. It seems not as strong as we thought we were entering this series.

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

The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Prove Merciless'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, Wane side's were much improved on the weekend back in the core regions of northern England.

In a rousing first half, England forced mistakes from the Australians and had dominant territory and ball control, but crucially did not capitalize on the scoreboard.

Notably, England have now managed just a single touchdown over two full matches, with St Helens hooker the forward scoring late on in the setback in the capital.

On the other hand, Australia have accumulated six in two games - and when blunders began to affect the hosts' play just after the break, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be severely punished.

First the playmaker crossed, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, England were down by double digits.

"Satisfied for the majority of the game. In my view for 70 minutes we were solid," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after half-time hurt us severely. Munster's try was soft and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"The team is devastated. Extremely pleased the squad had a dig but so disappointed with that after half-time, which hurt us heavily."

While the next World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under next year, the team's immediate focus will be on trying to salvage honor, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the issues that annoyed the coach.

"I hoped to see additional intensity directed toward the opposition. I wanted us to build pressure in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. It's just a minor refinements in our attack where we could have applied under greater stress. We need to defend both [tries] better.

"Credit to Australia - that is no slight to them. They perform and are ruthless when they capitalize, and we failed to be, but in defense we must do enhance.

"The Australians will be obsessed to win all three Tests and we need to be obsessed to make it a competitive series. I've said that to the squad. This must become our primary goal. It's going to be a challenging week but whoever strives for it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Increase in Domestic Competition

England have participated in a similar number of Test matches to Australia since the previous global tournament in 2022.

Yet the coach believes that the caliber of the NRL - and level of the State of Origin matches between NSW and QLD - provide a superior preparation for competing at the highest level of the global stage than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach added that the packed Super League fixture list left no time for him to train his team during the season, which will only raise further questions around how the national team can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in 2026.

"They participate in a large number of Test matches in their competition," Wane remarked.

"England have ten to fifteen a year. We need highly competitive games to improve the domestic league and increase our chances of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even practice with the players. We never trained together in the season and I had the total cooperation of all clubs in the domestic competition.

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