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As stated by captain George Williams, the national team were delivered a stark "sobering lesson" as Australia won the coveted Ashes trophy.

Australia's 14-4 victory at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday gave them a commanding series edge, making next week's sold-out third Test a meaningless fixture.

The England team 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 achieved a dominant victory over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a two-decade hiatus, the English were failed to advance further against the reigning title holders.

"We're not making excuses. There were enough training periods to perform correctly on the pitch, and I don't think we've quite done that," Williams stated.

"Credit to Australia. They proved good defensively. But there's plenty to work on. We're probably not as strong as we thought we were entering this series.

"So it's a necessary lesson for us, and [there is] loads to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Are Clinical'

After being soundly beaten in an error-strewn display at the national stadium, England's were significantly better on Saturday back in the traditional strongholds of England's north.

In a rousing opening period, England elicited errors from the Australians and had all the field position and ball control, but crucially did not make it count on the points tally.

Significantly, England have now managed just one try over the series so far, with player the forward scoring late on in the loss in London.

Conversely, Australia have scored half a dozen so far - 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 severely punished.

Initially the playmaker scored, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, the home side were trailing by 10.

"Satisfied for the majority of the game. In my view for most of the match we were solid," said the coach.

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

"The team is devastated. Extremely pleased the squad had a fight but so disappointed with that after half-time, which cost us heavily."

While the next World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under a year from now, the team's short-term goal will be on attempting to restore some pride, preventing a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the mistakes that annoyed the coach.

"I hoped to see more directed toward Australia. I wanted us to build pressure in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. The issue is a lack of precision in our offensive play where we could have applied under increased strain. We need to defend both [tries] more effectively.

"Fair play to Australia - that is not a criticism to them. They turn up and are clinical when they capitalize, and we failed to be, but in defense we can and should do enhance.

"They will be determined to win 3-0 and we need to be equally determined to make it a competitive series. I've told that to the players. This must become our main aim. It's going to be a difficult week but whoever wants it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Must to Increase in Domestic Competition

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

Yet Wane believes that the caliber of the Australian league - and standard of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and Queensland - offer a much better grounding for performing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the Europe.

The England coach added that the hectic Super League fixture list left little opportunity for him to train his team during the campaign, which will only raise further questions around how the national team can narrow the difference to Australia before heading to Oceania in 2026.

"The Australians play a lot of Test matches in their league," he remarked.

"England have 10-15 a year. We need demanding games to enhance the competition and increase our chances of succeeding in these high-stakes fixtures.

"I couldn't even practice with the players. There was no chance to trained together in the season and despite having the complete support of all clubs in the domestic competition.

"I understand in the shoes of the head coaches that must to win games. The league is that tight. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we got beaten today."