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According to captain George Williams, England were handed a stark "wake-up call" as the Kangaroos won the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 triumph at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making next week's final match in Leeds a dead rubber.

Shaun Wane's side had come into the series harbouring hopes of inflicting the Kangaroos to their maiden Ashes setback since over five decades ago.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a dominant victory over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the prestigious competition resumed after a long break, the English were failed to take the next step against the top-ranked team.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough preparations to execute properly on the pitch, and it's clear we've achieved that," Williams stated.

"Australia deserve praise. They were good defensively. But we've got plenty to improve. It seems not as prepared as we thought we were going into this series.

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

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Are Merciless'

After being heavily outplayed in an sloppy showing at Wembley, England's were much improved on the weekend back in the core regions of England's north.

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

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

Conversely, the Kangaroos have racked up half a dozen in two games - and when errors began to appear in the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be severely punished.

Initially the playmaker scored, and then so too did the forward. From being level at four-all, the home side were trailing by 10.

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

"The lapse for a brief period after half-time cost us severely. The first try was soft and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"The team is heartbroken. So proud the players had a go but so disappointed with that post-interval, which proved costly significantly."

While the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under a year from now, the team's primary concern will be on trying to restore some pride, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and addressing the mistakes that annoyed the coach.

"I wanted to see more directed toward the opposition. I wanted us to maintain momentum in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. It's just a lack of precision in our offense where we could have applied under increased strain. We need to defend both [tries] more effectively.

"Credit to Australia - that is no detriment to them. They arrive and are merciless when they seize opportunities, and we failed to be, but in defense we must do better.

"The Australians will be focused to win all three Tests and we need to be equally determined to make it a competitive series. I've told that to the players. It has to be our primary goal. It's going to be a challenging week but the side that desires it the greatest will get the win next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Increase in Domestic Competition

England have participated in a similar number of Test matches to Australia since the previous global tournament in recent years.

However Wane argues that the caliber of the Australian league - and level of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and QLD - provide a superior grounding for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the Europe.

Wane commented that the packed domestic league fixture schedule left little opportunity for him to coach his players during the season, which will only pose more issues around how England can bridge the gap to the Kangaroos before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"They play a lot of Test matches in their league," he added.

"We have 10-15 a year. We need highly competitive games to boost the competition and improve our chances of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"It was impossible to even practice with the squad. There was no chance to got on the field in the campaign and I had the total cooperation of all clubs in the domestic competition.

"I understand in the position of the head coaches that must to win games. The league is that congested. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we were defeated today."