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According to leader the England captain, the national team were handed a harsh "reality check" as Australia secured the Rugby League Ashes.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 triumph at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday gave them a 2-0 series lead, making the upcoming final match in Leeds a academic contest.

The England team had entered the series dreaming of inflicting the Kangaroos to their first Ashes series defeat since 1970.

Over the last 24 months, they had enjoyed a 3-0 series win over Tonga and a series win over Samoa. But as the prestigious competition returned after a two-decade hiatus, the English were unable to take the next step against the top-ranked team.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough training periods to perform correctly on the field, and I don't think we've quite done that," Williams told.

"Australia deserve praise. They were good in defense. But we've got loads to improve. It seems not as good as we believed we were going into this series.

"This serves as a valuable wake-up call for us, and there is much to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Prove Ruthless'

Having been soundly beaten in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on the weekend back in the rugby league heartlands of England's north.

During an energetic first half, the home side elicited errors from the Australians and had superior positioning and ball control, but crucially did not convert opportunities on the scoreboard.

Significantly, England have now managed just one score over two full matches, with St Helens hooker the forward scoring late on in the setback in the capital.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos have racked up six across the series - and when blunders began to appear in the hosts' play just after the break, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be severely punished.

First Cameron Munster went over, and then so too did the forward. From being level at 4-4, England were trailing by 10.

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

"The lapse for a brief period after the break hurt us immensely. Munster's try was easy and should not be scored in a Test match.

"The team is deeply disappointed. Extremely pleased the squad had a fight but very frustrated with that post-interval, which proved costly dearly."

While the next World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere is just under 12 months away, the team's short-term goal will be on attempting to restore some pride, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the errors that frustrated the coach.

"I wanted to see greater effort thrown at Australia. My aim was us to apply sustained attack in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our offensive play where we could have put them under increased strain. We need to stop each of [tries] better.

"Credit to Australia - that is no detriment to them. They arrive and are merciless when they get a chance, and we weren't, but in defense we can and should do better.

"The Australians will be determined to win all three Tests and we need to be equally determined to make it 2-1. I've said that to the squad. It has to be our main aim. It will be a challenging week but the side that wants it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Needs to Improve in Super League

The English side have participated in a similar number of international fixtures to Australia since the last World Cup in recent years.

However Wane believes that the strength of the NRL - and standard of the State of Origin matches between NSW and Queensland - provide a much better grounding for competing at the top of the global stage than what is on offer in the UK.

Wane noted that the hectic domestic league fixture list left no time for him to train his players during the campaign, which will only raise additional concerns around how England can bridge the gap to the Kangaroos before travelling to Oceania in 2026.

"The Australians play a lot of internationals in their league," Wane remarked.

"England play 10-15 a year. We need demanding games to enhance the competition and boost our prospects of succeeding in these types of matches.

"I couldn't even train with the squad. We never got on the field in the campaign and despite having the total cooperation of everyone in the domestic competition.

"I have also been in the boots of the head coaches that need to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but it's not the reason we lost today."