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According to leader George Williams, the national team were handed a brutal "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos won the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 victory at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on the weekend gave them a commanding series edge, making next week's final match in Leeds a meaningless fixture.

The England team had entered the series holding aspirations of inflicting the Kangaroos to their maiden Ashes setback since over five decades ago.

In the past two years, they had enjoyed a clean sweep over the Tongan side and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the historic rivalry resumed after a 22-year absence, the English were failed to take the next step against the world champions.

"No excuses from us. We've had enough training periods to get it right on the pitch, and it's clear we've quite done that," Williams commented.

"Australia deserve praise. They proved good defensively. But there's loads to improve. It seems not as good as we expected we were entering this series.

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

The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Are Clinical'

After being comprehensively defeated in an sloppy showing at the national stadium, Wane side's were significantly better on Saturday back in the traditional strongholds of England's north.

In a rousing opening period, the home side elicited errors from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory and ball control, but unfortunately did not make it count on the points tally.

Tellingly, the English team have now managed just a single touchdown over the series so far, with St Helens hooker Daryl Clark scoring late on in the defeat in the capital.

In contrast, Australia have scored six so far - and when mistakes began to appear in the England's play just after the break, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First Cameron Munster crossed, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, the home side were down by double digits.

"Proud for the majority of the game. In my view for most of the match we were good," said the coach.

"The lapse for a brief period after the break cost us severely. Munster's try was avoidable and should not be scored in a international fixture.

"We're deeply disappointed. So proud the squad had a go but very frustrated with that second-half lapse, which hurt us dearly."

While the upcoming global tournament in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under 12 months away, the team's primary concern will be on trying to restore some pride, preventing a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the issues that annoyed the coach.

"I hoped to see more directed toward Australia. I wanted us to maintain momentum in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We did this week. It's just a minor refinements in our attack where we could have applied under greater stress. We need to defend both [tries] better.

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

"They will be determined to win 3-0 and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the players. It has to be our main aim. It will be a challenging week but the side that desires it the most will get the win next week."

Intensity Needs to Increase in Super League

England have participated in a comparable number of Test matches to Australia since the previous global tournament in 2022.

Yet the coach believes that the strength of the Australian league - and quality of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and QLD - offer a superior grounding for competing at the highest level of the global stage than what is on offer in the UK.

Wane commented that the congested domestic league fixture list allowed little opportunity for him to train his squad during the season, which will only pose further questions around how England can close the divide to Australia before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"The Australians play a lot of Test matches in their competition," he added.

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

"It was impossible to even practice with the players. We never trained together in the season and I had the full backing of everyone in the domestic competition.

"I have also been in the boots of the club managers that need to win games. The league is that packed. It's a pity but that's not the reason we were defeated today."