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According to leader George Williams, the national team were delivered a brutal "sobering lesson" as Australia secured the prestigious series.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 victory at the Merseyside venue on Saturday gave them a commanding series edge, making the upcoming Headingley encounter a academic contest.

Shaun Wane's side had come into the series holding aspirations of inflicting Australia to their initial series loss since the 1970s.

Recently, they had secured a clean sweep over the Tongan side and a success over Samoa. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a 22-year absence, the English were failed to take the next step against the reigning title holders.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough training periods to perform correctly on the pitch, and it's clear we've quite done that," the captain stated.

"Australia deserve praise. They proved excellent defensively. But there's a lot to work on. It seems not as good as we thought we were entering this series.

"This serves as a valuable lesson for us, and there is much to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Prove Clinical'

After being soundly beaten in an error-strewn display at Wembley, Wane side's were significantly better on Saturday back in the traditional strongholds of northern England.

During an energetic first half, the home side forced mistakes from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory and ball control, but crucially did not convert opportunities on the scoreboard.

Significantly, the English team have now scored just a single touchdown over 160 minutes, with player the forward barging over late on in the setback in the capital.

In contrast, the Kangaroos have accumulated six across the series - and when blunders began to affect the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be made to pay.

First the playmaker scored, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being level at four-all, England were trailing by 10.

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

"The lapse for a brief period after half-time damaged us immensely. Munster's try was soft and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"The team is heartbroken. Extremely pleased the players had a fight but so disappointed with that second-half lapse, which hurt us significantly."

Although the upcoming global tournament in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under next year, England's immediate focus will be on attempting to regain respect, avoiding a series whitewash and eliminating the errors that frustrated Wane.

"I wanted to see more thrown at Australia. I wanted us to apply sustained attack in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. The issue is a minor refinements in our attack where we could have put them under greater stress. It's essential to stop each of [tries] better.

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

"The Australians will be determined to win 3-0 and we need to be equally determined to make it 2-1. I've said that to the players. It has to be our main aim. It's going to be a tough week but the side that desires it the greatest will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Needs to Increase in Domestic Competition

England have played a comparable number of Test matches to the Kangaroos since the previous global tournament in recent years.

However the coach believes that the caliber of the Australian league - and standard of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and Queensland - deliver a more effective preparation for competing at the top of the global stage than what is on offer in the northern hemisphere.

Wane noted that the congested domestic league fixture schedule allowed no time for him to train his players during the season, which will only pose further questions around how the national team can bridge the gap to Australia before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in 2026.

"They participate in a large number of internationals in their competition," Wane stated.

"England have ten to fifteen a year. We need demanding games to boost the domestic league and boost our chances of succeeding in these high-stakes fixtures.

"I couldn't even practice with the squad. There was no chance to trained together in the campaign and despite having the total cooperation of everyone in the domestic competition.

"I have also been in the boots of the head coaches that need to win games. The league is that congested. It's a pity but that's not the reason we got beaten today."