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According to leader George Williams, the national team were handed a stark "reality check" as Australia won the Rugby League Ashes.

Australia's 14-4 victory at the stadium in Liverpool on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making the upcoming sold-out third Test a dead rubber.

The national squad had entered the series dreaming of inflicting Australia to their maiden Ashes setback since 1970.

Over the last 24 months, they had enjoyed a 3-0 series win over the Tongan side and a success over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a two-decade hiatus, the English were failed to make the leap against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough training periods to perform correctly on the field, and I don't think we've quite done that," Williams commented.

"Credit to Australia. They proved excellent defensively. But there's plenty to work on. It seems not as prepared as we believed we were entering this series.

"So it's a necessary reality check for us, and there is much to develop."

Australia 'Arrive and Prove Merciless'

Having been soundly beaten in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, England's were markedly enhanced on the weekend back in the traditional strongholds of England's north.

During an energetic initial stages, the home side elicited errors from the Australians and had superior positioning and ball control, but importantly did not capitalize on the points tally.

Tellingly, England have now scored just one score over the series so far, with player the forward powering through late on in the defeat in London.

Conversely, Australia have accumulated six across the series - and when blunders began to affect the England's play just after the interval, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be severely punished.

Initially Cameron Munster crossed, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being tied at four-all, England were trailing by 10.

"Satisfied for the bulk of the game. I thought for 70 minutes we were competitive," said the coach.

"The switch off for 10 minutes after the break damaged us immensely. Munster's try was easy and should never happen in a international fixture.

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

Although the next World Cup in Oceania is just under 12 months away, the team's primary concern will be on attempting to salvage honor, avoiding a clean sweep and eliminating the errors that frustrated Wane.

"I hoped to see greater effort directed toward the opposition. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our attack where we could have put them under greater stress. We need to stop each of [tries] with greater resolve.

"Credit to Australia - that is no detriment to them. They arrive and are ruthless when they get a chance, and we failed to be, but in defense we must do improve.

"The Australians will be obsessed to win all three Tests 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 wants it the most will get the win next week."

Intensity Must to Increase in Domestic Competition

The English side have participated in a comparable number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the previous global tournament in recent years.

However the coach argues that the quality of the NRL - and standard of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and Queensland - deliver a more effective grounding for competing at the top of the global stage than what is on offer in the northern hemisphere.

Wane added that the congested Super League fixture list allowed little opportunity for him to train his players during the season, which will only pose more issues around how the national team can close the divide to the Kangaroos before travelling to Oceania in 2026.

"The Australians play a lot of Test matches in their competition," he added.

"We have ten to fifteen a year. It's crucial really intense games to boost the competition and improve our prospects of winning these high-stakes fixtures.

"I couldn't even practice with the players. There was no chance to got on the field in the campaign and I had the complete support of everyone in Super League.

"I have also been in the boots of the club managers that must to win games. The league is that tight. It's a pity but it's not the cause we lost today."