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As stated by leader George Williams, the national team were handed a brutal "reality check" as the Kangaroos won the prestigious series.

Australia's 14-4 triumph at the Merseyside venue on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making next week's Headingley encounter a dead rubber.

Shaun Wane's side had entered the series harbouring hopes of inflicting Australia to their maiden Ashes setback since the 1970s.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a dominant victory over Tonga and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the historic rivalry returned after a 22-year absence, England were failed to advance further against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough training periods to get it right on the pitch, and it's clear we've achieved that," Williams commented.

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

"So it's a valuable wake-up call for us, and there is much to develop."

Australia 'Arrive and Are Ruthless'

After being heavily outplayed in an error-strewn display at the national stadium, Wane side's were much improved on Saturday back in the traditional strongholds of England's north.

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

Tellingly, England have now managed just a single touchdown over two full matches, with player Daryl Clark scoring late on in the loss in London.

Conversely, the Kangaroos have scored six so far - and when mistakes began to creep into the England's play just after the interval, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be heavily penalized.

Initially Cameron Munster crossed, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being level at four-all, England were 10 points adrift.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. In my view for most of the match we were competitive," said Wane.

"The switch off for 10 minutes after half-time cost us greatly. Munster's try was soft and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"We're deeply disappointed. Extremely pleased the players had a dig but so disappointed with that post-interval, which proved costly dearly."

While the next World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere is just under a year from now, the team's short-term goal will be on trying to restore some pride, preventing a clean sweep and eliminating the issues that irritated Wane.

"I hoped to see more directed toward Australia. I wanted us to build pressure in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We did this week. It's just a minor refinements in our offensive play where we could have applied under greater stress. We need to stop each of [tries] with greater resolve.

"Fair play to Australia - that is no slight to them. They turn up and are merciless when they get a chance, and we weren't, but defensively we must do enhance.

"They will be determined 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 obsession. It's going to be a challenging week but the side that strives for it the greatest will emerge victorious next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Increase in Domestic Competition

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

However Wane thinks that the caliber of the Australian league - and standard of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and Queensland - provide a much better foundation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach noted that the hectic domestic league fixture list left little opportunity for him to coach his players during the campaign, which will only pose further questions around how England can bridge the gap to Australia before heading 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. It's crucial demanding games to enhance the competition and improve our prospects of winning these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even train with the squad. We never got on the field in the season and I had the full backing of all clubs in Super League.

"I understand in the position of the head coaches that need to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but it's not the cause we lost today."