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In the words of captain George Williams, the national team were handed a harsh "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos clinched the Rugby League Ashes.

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

The England team had entered the series harbouring hopes of sending Australia to their maiden Ashes setback since the 1970s.

Recently, they had secured a clean sweep over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the historic rivalry returned after a long break, the English were unable to take the next step against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough training periods to execute properly on the field, and I don't think we've quite done that," Williams told.

"Australia deserve praise. They were excellent in defense. But there's a lot to improve. We're probably not as strong as we believed we were going into this series.

"So it's a valuable wake-up call for us, and we have plenty to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Are Clinical'

After being comprehensively defeated in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on the weekend back in the core regions of England's north.

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

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

In contrast, the Kangaroos have scored six in two games - and when mistakes began to creep into the England's play just after the interval, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be severely punished.

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

"Proud for the bulk of the game. I thought for most of the match we were good," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for a brief period after the break cost us severely. Munster's 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 after half-time, which hurt us significantly."

Although the upcoming global tournament in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under next year, England's primary concern will be on attempting to regain respect, preventing a series whitewash and eliminating the mistakes that annoyed the coach.

"I wanted to see additional intensity 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 did this week. The issue is a minor refinements in our offense where we could have put them under greater stress. It's essential to defend both [tries] with greater resolve.

"Fair play to Australia - that is no detriment to them. They turn up and are clinical when they seize opportunities, and we failed to be, but in defense we can and should do improve.

"The Australians will be obsessed to win all three Tests and we need to be just as focused to make it 2-1. I've told that to the players. It has to be our primary goal. It's going to be a tough week but whoever wants it the greatest will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Must to Improve in Domestic Competition

England have played a comparable number of international fixtures to Australia since the last World Cup in recent years.

Yet Wane believes that the quality of the Australian league - and level of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and QLD - deliver a more effective foundation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the UK.

The England coach noted that the hectic domestic league fixture list left no time for him to work with his team during the season, which will only raise more issues around how the national team can close the divide to the Kangaroos before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"The Australians play a lot of internationals in their league," he added.

"We play ten to fifteen a year. We need really intense games to boost the competition and improve our prospects of winning these types of matches.

"I couldn't even practice 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 have also been in the boots of the club managers that need to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we got beaten today."