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In the words of skipper George Williams, England were handed a brutal "wake-up call" as Australia secured the prestigious series.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 triumph at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making the upcoming sold-out third Test a dead rubber.

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

In the past two years, they had secured a dominant victory over the Tongan side and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a long break, the English were failed to advance further against the world champions.

"No excuses from us. We've had enough preparations to execute properly on the field, and it's clear we've managed that," the captain stated.

"Australia deserve praise. They proved good in defense. But we've got loads to address. We're probably not as good as we believed we were going into this series.

"So it's a valuable reality check for us, and we have plenty to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Are Ruthless'

After being soundly beaten in an error-strewn display at Wembley, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on Saturday back in the rugby league heartlands of the North.

In a rousing opening period, England elicited errors from the Australians and had superior positioning and possession, but crucially did not make it count on the points tally.

Tellingly, the English team have now scored just one score over 160 minutes, with player the forward barging over late on in the defeat in London.

Conversely, Australia have racked up half a dozen across the series - and when errors began to creep into the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First Cameron Munster scored, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, England were 10 points adrift.

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

"The switch off for a brief period after the break hurt us severely. The first try was soft and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"We're deeply disappointed. So proud the squad had a go but so disappointed with that post-interval, which proved costly heavily."

While the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under a year from now, England's short-term goal will be on attempting to restore some pride, preventing a clean sweep and eliminating the mistakes that annoyed the coach.

"I hoped to see more directed toward 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 lack of precision in our attack where we could have applied under more pressure. It's essential to stop each of [tries] more effectively.

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

"They will be focused to win all three Tests and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the players. This must become our primary goal. It's going to be a tough week but the side that strives for it the greatest will secure victory next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Increase in Super League

The English side have played a similar number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in 2022.

Yet the coach argues that the caliber of the NRL - and standard of the State of Origin matches between NSW and QLD - deliver a superior grounding for competing at the top of the international game than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach commented that the packed domestic league fixture schedule left no time for him to train his team during the campaign, which will only pose more issues around how England can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before heading to Oceania in 2026.

"They play a large number of internationals in their competition," Wane remarked.

"England play ten to fifteen a year. We need really intense games to enhance the competition and increase our chances of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even practice with the players. There was no chance to got on the field in the campaign and I had the total cooperation of all clubs in Super League.

"I have also been in the position of the head coaches that need to win games. The league is that tight. It's a pity but that's not the cause we lost today."