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According to leader the England captain, the national team were delivered a stark "sobering lesson" 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 unassailable 2-0 advantage, making the upcoming final match in Leeds a dead rubber.

The national squad had entered the series dreaming of inflicting Australia to their maiden Ashes setback since over five decades ago.

Over the last 24 months, 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 long break, England were failed to advance further against the top-ranked team.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough preparations to perform correctly on the pitch, and I don't think we've achieved that," Williams told.

"Full marks to the Kangaroos. They proved strong in defense. 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 good reality check for us, and we have plenty to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Prove Merciless'

Having been soundly beaten in an error-strewn display at the national stadium, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on the weekend back in the traditional strongholds of England's north.

In a rousing opening period, England forced mistakes from the Australians and had superior positioning and ball control, but crucially did not capitalize on the points tally.

Tellingly, the English team have now scored just a single touchdown over two full matches, with St Helens hooker the forward barging over late on in the loss in the capital.

Conversely, Australia have scored six in two games - and when errors began to affect the England's play just after the half-time, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be severely punished.

First Cameron Munster went over, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being level at 4-4, the home side were trailing by 10.

"Satisfied for the majority of the game. I thought for most of the match we were competitive," said the coach.

"The lapse for a brief period after half-time hurt us severely. Munster's try was easy and should never happen in a top-level game.

"The team is heartbroken. So proud the players had a dig but very frustrated with that after half-time, which cost us heavily."

Although the next World Cup in Oceania is just under 12 months away, England's short-term goal will be on trying to regain respect, avoiding a clean sweep and addressing the mistakes that frustrated Wane.

"I wanted to see more thrown at the opposition. My aim was us to apply sustained attack in the game - we fell short last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. It's just a bit of detail in our offensive play where we could have applied under increased strain. It's essential to stop each of [tries] more effectively.

"Fair play to Australia - that is not a criticism to them. They perform and are ruthless when they capitalize, and we weren't, but in defense we must do enhance.

"They will be obsessed to win the series whitewash and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've told that to the squad. It has to be our primary goal. It will be a challenging week but whoever strives for it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Needs to Elevate in Domestic Competition

The English side have participated in a similar number of Test matches to Australia since the last World Cup in 2022.

However Wane believes that the caliber of the NRL - and quality of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and Queensland - offer a superior foundation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is available in the UK.

Wane added that the congested Super League fixture list left no time for him to coach his squad during the season, which will only raise further questions around how the national team can close the divide to Australia before heading to Oceania in 2026.

"The Australians play a large number of internationals in their league," Wane stated.

"We have ten to fifteen a year. We need highly competitive games to improve the competition and improve our chances of winning these types of matches.

"It was impossible to even practice with the squad. We never got on the field in the campaign and despite having the complete support of all clubs in Super League.

"I have also been in the position of the club managers that need to win games. The competition is that congested. It's a pity but that's not the cause we were defeated today."