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According to captain the England captain, the national team were given a harsh "reality check" as the Kangaroos secured the prestigious series.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 triumph at the stadium in Liverpool on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making the upcoming Headingley encounter a academic contest.

The national squad had come into the series harbouring hopes of sending Australia to their maiden Ashes setback since the 1970s.

Over the last 24 months, they had achieved a 3-0 series win over Tonga and a success over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition resumed after a long break, England were unable to make the leap against the top-ranked team.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough preparations to get it right on the pitch, and it's clear we've achieved that," the captain commented.

"Australia deserve praise. They were good defensively. But there's loads to work on. We're probably not as strong as we thought we were going into this series.

"So it's a necessary wake-up call for us, and we have plenty to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Are Clinical'

After being soundly beaten in an mistake-ridden performance at Wembley, England's were much improved on the weekend back in the rugby league heartlands of northern England.

In an inspiring first half, the home side caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had all the field position and possession, but unfortunately did not capitalize on the scoreboard.

Tellingly, England have now scored just one score over the series so far, with player Daryl Clark scoring late on in the loss in the capital.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos have racked up six so far - and when mistakes began to creep into the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be made to pay.

First Cameron Munster scored, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being level at four-all, England were trailing by 10.

"Satisfied for the majority of the game. I thought for most of the match we were good," said the coach.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after half-time damaged us severely. Munster's try was soft and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"We're heartbroken. Extremely pleased the players had a go but so disappointed with that post-interval, which proved costly significantly."

Although the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under 12 months away, England's primary concern will be on attempting to salvage honor, preventing a series whitewash and eradicating the errors that irritated Wane.

"I wanted to see additional intensity thrown at Australia. I wanted us to apply sustained attack in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. The issue is a lack of precision in our attack where we could have put them under more pressure. We need to defend both [tries] better.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is not a criticism to them. They turn up and are clinical when they get a chance, and we failed to be, but defensively we must do better.

"They will be focused to win the series whitewash and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the squad. It has to be our main aim. It will be a challenging week but whoever wants it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Must to Elevate in Super League

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

However the coach believes that the quality of the Australian league - and level of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and Queensland - provide a more effective preparation for competing at the top of the global stage than what is available in the UK.

Wane noted that the packed Super League fixture list left no time for him to work with his squad during the campaign, which will only raise additional concerns around how England can bridge the gap to the Kangaroos before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"The Australians participate in a large number of Test matches in their league," he added.

"We play ten to fifteen a year. We need demanding games to boost the competition and boost our prospects of winning these types of matches.

"It was impossible to even practice with the squad. We never got on the field in the season and despite having the full backing of all clubs in the domestic competition.

"I understand in the position of the club managers that need to win games. The competition is that packed. It's a pity but that's not the reason we got beaten today."