🔗 Share this article

As stated by captain the England captain, England were delivered a stark "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos secured the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' decisive 14-4 win at the stadium in Liverpool on Saturday gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's final match in Leeds a dead rubber.

The national squad had come into the series holding aspirations of inflicting the Kangaroos to their first Ashes series defeat since the 1970s.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a clean sweep over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the Rugby League Ashes returned after a long break, the English were unable to advance further against the world champions.

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

"Credit to Australia. They were excellent in defense. But there's loads to address. We're probably not as strong as we thought we were going into this series.

"This serves as a necessary wake-up call for us, and we have plenty to enhance."

Australia 'Turn Up and Prove Merciless'

Having been heavily outplayed in an sloppy showing at the national stadium, Wane side's were much improved on Saturday back in the core regions of England's north.

During an energetic first half, England elicited errors from the Kangaroos and had superior positioning and ball control, but crucially did not capitalize on the points tally.

Notably, the English team have now scored just one score over two full matches, with player Daryl Clark barging over late on in the loss in the capital.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos have scored half a dozen in two games - and when blunders began to appear in the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be heavily penalized.

Initially the playmaker scored, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being level at 4-4, the home side were 10 points adrift.

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

"The switch off for a brief period after the break damaged us greatly. The first try was soft and should never happen in a international fixture.

"The team is devastated. Extremely pleased the players 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 12 months away, the team's immediate focus will be on trying to restore some pride, preventing a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the mistakes that irritated the coach.

"I wanted to see greater effort thrown at Australia. My aim was us to build pressure in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. The issue is a minor refinements in our attack where we could have applied under more pressure. We need to defend both [tries] better.

"Credit to Australia - that is no slight to them. They turn up and are clinical when they seize opportunities, and we weren't, but defensively we can and should do better.

"They will be determined 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. This must become our obsession. It will be a challenging week but whoever strives for it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Elevate in Domestic Competition

The English side have participated in a comparable number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in recent years.

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

Wane commented that the hectic domestic league fixture list left no time for him to coach his players during the campaign, which will only pose additional concerns around how the national team can narrow the difference to Australia before heading to Oceania in the next World Cup.

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

"We play 10-15 a year. It's crucial demanding games to enhance the competition and improve our prospects of winning these high-stakes fixtures.

"It was impossible to even train with the players. There was no chance to trained together in the season and despite having the complete support of everyone in the domestic competition.

"I have also been in the boots of the head coaches that need to win games. The competition is that packed. It's a pity but it's not the reason we lost today."