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In the words of captain the England captain, England were delivered a brutal "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos clinched the Rugby League Ashes.

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

The national squad had entered the series holding aspirations of inflicting the Kangaroos to their maiden Ashes setback since the 1970s.

In the past two years, they had enjoyed a dominant victory over Tonga and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a 22-year absence, England were unable to make the leap against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough training periods to get it right on the pitch, and I don't think we've quite done that," Williams stated.

"Credit to Australia. They were strong defensively. But there's a lot to address. It seems not as prepared as we believed we were entering this series.

"This serves as a good lesson for us, and [there is] loads to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Are Ruthless'

Having been heavily outplayed in an sloppy showing at Wembley, England's were much improved on Saturday back in the traditional strongholds of England's north.

During an energetic initial stages, England caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory 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 St Helens hooker the forward barging over late on in the loss in the capital.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos have scored six across the series - and when blunders began to creep into the England's play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First Cameron Munster went over, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being tied at four-all, the home side were down by double digits.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. In my view for 70 minutes we were good," said Wane.

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after the break damaged us immensely. Munster's try was avoidable and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"The team is deeply disappointed. So proud the squad had a dig but so disappointed with that after half-time, which cost us dearly."

While the next World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under next year, England's short-term goal will be on trying to restore some pride, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the mistakes that irritated the coach.

"I wanted to see more directed toward the opposition. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our offense where we could have put them under greater stress. We need to stop each of [tries] with greater resolve.

"Fair play to Australia - that is no slight to them. They arrive and are clinical when they get a chance, and we weren't, but in defense we can and should do better.

"The Australians will be determined to win 3-0 and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've told that to the squad. This must become our primary goal. It's going to be a difficult week but whoever strives for it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Competitive Edge Must to Increase in Domestic Competition

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

However the coach thinks that the quality of the Australian league - and quality of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and QLD - provide a much better preparation for competing at the top of the global stage than what is on offer in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach commented that the hectic domestic league fixture list left no time for him to coach his squad during the campaign, which will only pose further questions around how England can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in 2026.

"They play a large number of internationals in their league," he remarked.

"England have ten to fifteen a year. It's crucial highly competitive games to improve the domestic league and boost our prospects of winning these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even train with the squad. We never trained together in the campaign and I had the total cooperation of all clubs in the domestic competition.

"I have also been in the boots of the head coaches that need to win games. The league is that congested. It's a pity but it's not the reason we got beaten today."