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In the words of captain George Williams, England were handed a stark "sobering lesson" as Australia won the prestigious series.

The Kangaroos' decisive 14-4 win at the stadium in Liverpool on Saturday gave them a commanding series edge, making the upcoming Headingley encounter a dead rubber.

The national squad had entered the series harbouring hopes of sending the Kangaroos to their first Ashes series defeat since the 1970s.

Recently, they had enjoyed a dominant victory over the Tongan side and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the historic rivalry resumed after a 22-year absence, the English were unable to advance further against the reigning title holders.

"No excuses from us. There were enough sessions to perform correctly on the pitch, and I don't think we've managed that," Williams stated.

"Australia deserve praise. They were good in defense. But we've got loads to improve. We're probably not as strong as we expected we were going into this series.

"This serves as a necessary lesson for us, and there is much to improve on."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Prove Clinical'

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 traditional strongholds of northern England.

In an inspiring initial stages, England elicited errors from the Kangaroos and had superior positioning and ball control, but unfortunately did not make it count on the points tally.

Tellingly, the English team have now scored 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 so far - and when blunders began to affect the England's play just after the half-time, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be severely punished.

Initially the playmaker crossed, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being tied at four-all, England were 10 points adrift.

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

"The switch off for 10 minutes after the break damaged us immensely. The first try was soft and should never happen in a international fixture.

"We're devastated. Extremely pleased the players had a dig but very frustrated with that post-interval, which hurt us significantly."

Although the upcoming global tournament in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under a year from now, the team's immediate focus will be on trying to regain respect, preventing a series whitewash and eradicating the errors that irritated Wane.

"I hoped to see more thrown at the opposition. My aim was us to apply sustained attack in the game - we fell short last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We did this week. The issue is a lack of precision in our offensive play where we could have put them under greater stress. We need to stop each of [tries] better.

"Fair play to Australia - that is no slight to them. They turn up and are ruthless when they seize opportunities, and we weren't, but in defense we can and should do better.

"They will be obsessed to win the series whitewash and we need to be obsessed to make it 2-1. I've said that to the players. This must become our primary goal. It will be a difficult week but whoever strives for it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Competitive Edge Must to Increase in Domestic Competition

The English side have participated in a similar number of Test matches to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in recent years.

However the coach argues that the caliber of the Australian league - and level of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and QLD - provide a much better grounding for performing at the top of the global stage than what is on offer in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach noted that the hectic Super League fixture list allowed little opportunity for him to work with his squad during the season, which will only pose more issues around how the national team can bridge the gap to the Kangaroos before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in 2026.

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

"England have 10-15 a year. We need really intense games to boost the domestic league and boost our chances of succeeding in these types of matches.

"I couldn't even practice with the players. There was no chance to trained together in the campaign and despite having the full backing of all clubs in Super League.

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