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According to skipper George Williams, England were delivered a harsh "reality check" as the Kangaroos won the Rugby League Ashes.

Australia's 14-4 victory at the stadium in Liverpool on the weekend gave them a commanding series edge, making the upcoming final match in Leeds a dead rubber.

Shaun Wane's side had come into the series holding aspirations of inflicting the Kangaroos to their initial series loss since over five decades ago.

In the past two years, they had enjoyed a dominant victory over the Tongan side and a 2-0 triumph over the Samoan team. But as the historic rivalry returned after a long break, England were failed to make the leap against the world champions.

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

"Credit to Australia. They proved strong in defense. But we've got plenty to address. It seems not as good as we believed we were entering this series.

"This serves as a valuable wake-up call for us, and we have plenty to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Are Ruthless'

Having been soundly beaten in an mistake-ridden performance at Wembley, England's were much improved on Saturday back in the core regions of England's north.

In a rousing first half, the home side elicited errors from the Australians and had all the field position and ball control, but importantly did not capitalize on the points tally.

Notably, the English team have now scored just one try over the series so far, with player the forward powering through late on in the defeat in London.

On the other hand, Australia have accumulated six in two games - and when errors began to appear in the hosts' play just after the half-time, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First the playmaker crossed, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at four-all, the home side were trailing by 10.

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

"The drop in intensity for a brief period after half-time damaged us immensely. Munster's try was avoidable and should never happen in a Test match.

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

While the next World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under 12 months away, England's short-term goal will be on trying to regain respect, preventing a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the issues that annoyed Wane.

"I hoped to see additional intensity thrown at Australia. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we fell short last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. The issue is a minor refinements in our offensive play where we could have applied under increased strain. It's essential to stop each of [tries] better.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is not a criticism to them. They perform and are merciless when they capitalize, and we failed to be, but defensively we must do enhance.

"The Australians will be obsessed to win the series whitewash and we need to be equally determined to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the squad. This must become our obsession. It will be a difficult week but the side that desires it the greatest will get the win next week."

Competitive Edge Must to Improve in Domestic Competition

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

However Wane thinks that the caliber of the NRL - and level of the State of Origin matches between NSW and Queensland - deliver a superior foundation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is available in the UK.

Wane commented that the hectic domestic league calendar allowed little opportunity for him to work with his players during the campaign, which will only pose additional concerns around how England can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before travelling to Oceania in 2026.

"They participate in a lot of Test matches in their league," Wane added.

"We have ten to fifteen a year. We need really intense games to boost the competition and improve our chances of winning these high-stakes fixtures.

"It was impossible to even train with the squad. There was no chance to got on the field in the campaign and despite having the full backing of all clubs in the domestic competition.

"I understand in the boots of the club managers that must to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we got beaten today."