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As stated by captain the England captain, the national team were delivered a harsh "wake-up call" as Australia clinched the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' decisive 14-4 win at the stadium in Liverpool on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's final match in Leeds a meaningless fixture.

The England team had entered the series dreaming of sending the Kangaroos to their maiden Ashes setback since 1970.

Recently, they had achieved a clean sweep over the Tongan side and a success over Samoa. But as the Rugby League Ashes returned after a 22-year absence, the English were failed to make the leap against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough sessions to perform correctly on the field, and I don't think we've managed that," the captain told.

"Full marks to the Kangaroos. They proved strong in defense. But we've got loads to address. It seems not as strong as we expected we were going into this series.

"So it's a valuable reality check for us, and there is much to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Prove Ruthless'

After being soundly beaten in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, Wane side's were much improved on the weekend back in the rugby league heartlands of northern England.

In a rousing opening period, England caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory and possession, but unfortunately did not make it count on the points tally.

Significantly, England have now managed just one score over the series so far, with St Helens hooker the forward powering through late on in the defeat in the capital.

Conversely, Australia have accumulated six in two games - and when errors began to affect the England's play just after the interval, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be severely punished.

First Cameron Munster scored, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at four-all, the home side were 10 points adrift.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. In my view for most of the match we were competitive," said Wane.

"The switch off for 10 minutes after the break cost us immensely. The first try was soft and should not be scored in a Test match.

"The team is deeply disappointed. So proud the squad had a fight but very frustrated with that after half-time, which proved costly heavily."

Although the next World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under a year from now, the team's primary concern will be on attempting to salvage honor, avoiding a clean sweep and addressing the mistakes that irritated the coach.

"I wanted to see additional intensity directed toward Australia. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our offense where we could have put them under greater stress. We need to defend both [tries] more effectively.

"Fair play to the Kangaroos - that is no detriment to them. They turn up and are clinical when they capitalize, and we failed to be, but defensively we can and should do enhance.

"The Australians will be obsessed to win 3-0 and we need to be obsessed to make it a competitive series. I've said that to the squad. It has to be our obsession. It will be a challenging week but whoever strives for it the greatest will secure victory next week."

Competitive Edge Must to Elevate in Super League

The English side have participated in a comparable number of Test matches to Australia since the last World Cup in 2022.

Yet the coach thinks that the strength of the NRL - and standard of the State of Origin matches between NSW and QLD - offer a much better grounding for performing at the top of the international game than what is on offer in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach commented that the hectic Super League fixture list left little opportunity for him to coach his players during the campaign, which will only raise further questions around how England can narrow the difference to Australia before heading to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"They participate in a large number of Test matches in their competition," he added.

"We play ten to fifteen a year. We need highly competitive games to boost the competition and increase our prospects of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even train with the players. There was no chance to got on the field in the season and I had the full backing of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the position of the head coaches that must to win games. The league is that congested. It's a pity but that's not the reason we got beaten today."