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In the words of captain the England captain, the national team were handed a brutal "wake-up call" as the Kangaroos clinched the coveted Ashes trophy.

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

The England team had entered the series holding aspirations of inflicting the Kangaroos to their maiden Ashes setback since 1970.

Over the last 24 months, they had achieved a dominant victory over the Tongan side and a 2-0 triumph over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes returned after a two-decade hiatus, England were failed to advance further against the top-ranked team.

"We're not making excuses. There were enough training periods to perform correctly on the field, and it's clear we've quite done that," Williams commented.

"Credit to Australia. They proved strong in defense. But there's loads to address. It seems not as good as we thought we were going into this series.

"This serves as a necessary reality check for us, and [there is] loads to improve on."

The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Are Merciless'

After being soundly beaten in an sloppy showing at Wembley, England's were much improved on Saturday back in the core regions of England's north.

In an inspiring first half, the home side caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had superior positioning and possession, but unfortunately did not make it count on the points tally.

Tellingly, the English team have now scored just a single touchdown over two full matches, with player Daryl Clark barging over late on in the loss in London.

On the other hand, Australia have accumulated half a dozen across the series - and when blunders began to creep into the hosts' play just after the interval, 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, the home side were 10 points adrift.

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

"The lapse for a brief period after half-time cost us immensely. Munster's try was soft and should never happen in a Test match.

"We're devastated. So proud the players had a fight but very frustrated with that after half-time, which proved costly dearly."

While the next World Cup in Oceania is just under a year from now, the team's short-term goal will be on trying to regain respect, preventing a clean sweep and addressing the mistakes that annoyed the coach.

"I wanted to see additional intensity thrown at the opposition. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. The issue is a lack of precision in our attack where we could have put them under more pressure. It's essential to stop each of [tries] better.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no slight to them. They arrive and are clinical when they capitalize, and we failed to be, but in defense we must do enhance.

"The Australians will be obsessed to win 3-0 and we need to be equally determined to make it 2-1. I've said that to the players. This must become our main aim. It's going to be a challenging week but the side that desires it the greatest will get the win next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Improve in Super League

England have participated in a similar number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the previous global tournament in recent years.

Yet Wane argues that the quality of the Australian league - and quality of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and QLD - deliver a superior preparation for performing at the highest level of the global stage than what is available in the Europe.

Wane commented that the congested domestic league fixture list allowed little opportunity for him to coach his team during the campaign, which will only raise additional concerns around how England can bridge the gap to the Kangaroos before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"The Australians play a lot of internationals in their competition," he stated.

"We play 10-15 a year. It's crucial really intense games to improve the competition and boost our prospects of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"It was impossible to even train with the squad. There was no chance to trained together in the season and despite having the complete support of all clubs in Super League.

"I have also been in the boots of the club managers that must to win games. The competition is that packed. It's unfortunate but it's not the cause we were defeated today."