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As stated by leader the England captain, the national team were given a stark "reality check" as Australia won the Rugby League Ashes.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 triumph at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making next week's sold-out third Test a dead rubber.

The England team had entered the series holding aspirations of sending the Kangaroos to their initial series loss since the 1970s.

In the past two years, they had enjoyed a 3-0 series win over Tonga and a series win over Samoa. But as the prestigious competition returned after a two-decade hiatus, the English were unable to advance further against the world champions.

"No excuses from us. There were enough sessions to execute properly on the field, and it's clear we've quite done that," Williams commented.

"Credit to Australia. They proved excellent in defense. But we've got loads to work on. We're probably not as good as we believed we were going into this series.

"This serves as a necessary reality check for us, and there is much to improve on."

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Are Ruthless'

After being heavily outplayed in an mistake-ridden performance at Wembley, England's were significantly better on the weekend back in the rugby league heartlands of northern England.

During an energetic opening period, the home side forced mistakes from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory and ball control, but importantly did not capitalize on the scoreboard.

Notably, the English team have now managed just one try over the series so far, with St Helens hooker Daryl Clark barging over late on in the setback in the capital.

On the other hand, Australia have racked up half a dozen across the series - and when mistakes began to creep into the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be made to pay.

Initially the playmaker scored, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being tied at four-all, the home side were down by double digits.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. In my view for most of the match we were good," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for a brief period after half-time damaged us severely. Munster's try was easy and should not be scored in a international fixture.

"The team is heartbroken. So proud the players had a go but very frustrated with that second-half lapse, which proved costly heavily."

While the next World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere is just under 12 months away, the team's short-term goal will be on attempting to regain respect, avoiding a clean sweep and addressing the mistakes that frustrated the coach.

"I wanted to see more thrown at Australia. I wanted us to apply sustained attack 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 offense where we could have put them under greater stress. It's essential to defend both [tries] better.

"Fair play to Australia - that is no detriment to them. They turn up and are merciless when they capitalize, and we weren't, but in defense we must do better.

"They will be obsessed to win 3-0 and we need to be equally determined to make it 2-1. I've said that to the players. This must become our main aim. It's going to be a tough week but whoever desires it the most will secure victory next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Increase in Domestic Competition

England have participated in a comparable number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in 2022.

Yet Wane argues that the caliber of the NRL - and level of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and Queensland - offer a much better foundation for performing at the highest level of the global stage than what is available in the UK.

The England coach noted that the packed domestic league fixture list allowed no time for him to coach his players during the season, which will only raise more issues around how the national team can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before travelling to Oceania in 2026.

"They participate in a lot of Test matches in their competition," he added.

"England play 10-15 a year. We need demanding games to boost the competition and improve our chances of winning these sorts of games.

"It was impossible to even train with the players. There was no chance to got on the field in the season and I had the total cooperation of all clubs in Super League.

"I understand in the boots of the club managers that must to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but it's not the reason we lost today."