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According to captain the England captain, England were given a stark "sobering lesson" as Australia clinched the Rugby League Ashes.

Australia's 14-4 victory at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making next week's final match in Leeds a dead rubber.

The England team had come into the series harbouring hopes of inflicting Australia to their first Ashes series defeat since 1970.

Recently, they had secured a 3-0 series win over the Tongan side and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a 22-year absence, England were unable to make the leap against the top-ranked team.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough training periods to perform correctly on the pitch, and I don't think we've quite done that," the captain stated.

"Australia deserve praise. They proved excellent defensively. But we've got loads to work on. We're probably not as strong as we thought we were going into this series.

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

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Prove Merciless'

After being comprehensively defeated in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, England's were significantly better on the weekend back in the traditional strongholds of England's north.

During an energetic initial stages, the home side caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had all the field position and ball control, but crucially did not capitalize on the scoreboard.

Significantly, the English team have now managed just a single touchdown over 160 minutes, with player the forward barging over late on in the defeat in London.

On the other hand, Australia have racked up six across the series - and when mistakes began to creep into the hosts' play just after the half-time, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First Cameron Munster went over, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being tied at 4-4, England were trailing by 10.

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

"The drop in intensity for a brief period after half-time cost us severely. The first try was easy and should not be scored in a international fixture.

"We're heartbroken. So proud the players had a go but very frustrated with that after half-time, which cost us heavily."

Although the next World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under a year from now, England's primary concern will be on trying to regain respect, preventing a series whitewash and eradicating the mistakes that irritated the coach.

"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 managed this week. It's just a minor refinements in our attack where we could have applied under more pressure. It's essential to stop each of [tries] more effectively.

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

"They will be obsessed to win all three Tests and we need to be obsessed to make it a respectable scoreline. I've told that to the squad. It has to be our primary goal. It will be a difficult week but whoever wants it the greatest will get the win next week."

Intensity Must to Increase in Domestic Competition

England have participated in a comparable number of international fixtures to Australia since the last World Cup in 2022.

However Wane thinks that the strength of the Australian league - and quality of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and Queensland - offer a more effective grounding for competing at the top of the international game than what is available in the Europe.

Wane added that the packed Super League calendar allowed no time for him to coach his team during the season, which will only pose more issues around how England can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in 2026.

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

"We play ten to fifteen a year. It's crucial highly competitive games to improve the domestic league and boost our prospects of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even train with the players. There was no chance to got on the field in the season and I had the full backing of everyone in the domestic competition.

"I have also been in the position of the club managers that must to win games. The competition is that tight. It's a pity but it's not the reason we got beaten today."