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According to skipper the England captain, the national team were given a brutal "wake-up call" as Australia clinched the Rugby League Ashes.

The Kangaroos' decisive 14-4 win at the Merseyside venue on Saturday gave them a commanding series edge, making next week's final match in Leeds a meaningless fixture.

The England team had come into the series harbouring hopes of inflicting the Kangaroos to their first Ashes series defeat since 1970.

Recently, they had achieved a clean sweep over the Tongan side and a success over Samoa. But as the prestigious competition resumed after a 22-year absence, England were unable to advance further against the world champions.

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

"Full marks to the Kangaroos. They were excellent in defense. But there's plenty to improve. It seems not as strong as we expected we were going into this series.

"This serves as a necessary reality check for us, and [there is] loads to enhance."

Australia 'Show Up and Are Ruthless'

Having been soundly beaten in an sloppy showing at Wembley, Wane side's were significantly better on Saturday back in the core regions of England's north.

In a rousing initial stages, the home side elicited errors from the Australians and had dominant territory and ball control, but crucially did not make it count on the points tally.

Notably, England have now scored just a single touchdown over 160 minutes, with player Daryl Clark barging over late on in the setback in London.

Conversely, the Kangaroos have racked up half a dozen in two games - and when mistakes began to affect the England's play just after the interval, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be severely punished.

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

"Satisfied for the bulk of the game. In my view for 70 minutes we were solid," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after the break hurt us severely. The first try was avoidable and should not be scored in a Test match.

"We're deeply disappointed. So proud the squad had a go but so disappointed with that after half-time, which hurt us heavily."

Although the next World Cup in Oceania is just under 12 months away, England's primary concern will be on attempting to regain respect, avoiding a series whitewash and eliminating the errors that irritated the coach.

"I hoped to see greater effort thrown at the opposition. My aim was us to apply sustained attack in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. It's just a lack of precision in our offensive play where we could have put them under increased strain. It's essential to stop each of [tries] more effectively.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no slight to them. They perform and are clinical when they get a chance, and we failed to be, but defensively we must do improve.

"They will be focused to win all three Tests and we need to be obsessed to make it a respectable scoreline. I've told that to the squad. This must become our main aim. It will be a tough week but the side that strives for it the greatest will secure victory next week."

Competitive Edge Must to Elevate in Super League

England have played a similar number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the previous global tournament in 2022.

However the coach believes that the strength of the Australian league - and standard of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and QLD - deliver a more effective grounding for performing at the highest level of the international game than what is available in the UK.

Wane noted that the hectic Super League calendar left no time for him to train his team during the season, which will only raise additional concerns around how England can narrow the difference to Australia before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"They play a lot of internationals in their competition," he added.

"We play ten to fifteen a year. It's crucial demanding games to improve the competition and increase our prospects of succeeding in these types of matches.

"It was impossible to even train with the squad. We never got on the field in the season and despite having the complete support of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the position of the club managers that must to win games. The league is that tight. It's unfortunate but it's not the reason we were defeated today."