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According to leader the England captain, England were delivered a stark "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos secured the coveted Ashes trophy.

Australia's 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 dead rubber.

Shaun Wane's side had come into the series holding aspirations of sending Australia to their first Ashes series defeat since over five decades ago.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a 3-0 series win over the Tongan side and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes resumed after a two-decade hiatus, England were unable to take the next step against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough sessions to execute properly on the pitch, and I don't think we've managed that," the captain told.

"Full marks to the Kangaroos. They were good in defense. But there's plenty to address. We're probably not as good as we believed we were entering this series.

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

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Are Merciless'

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

In a rousing initial stages, the home side elicited errors from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory and ball control, but crucially did not convert opportunities on the points tally.

Significantly, England have now managed just a single touchdown over 160 minutes, with player Daryl Clark powering through late on in the defeat in the capital.

In contrast, the Kangaroos have racked up six across the series - and when blunders began to appear in the England's play just after the half-time, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be severely punished.

Initially Cameron Munster crossed, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, the home side were 10 points adrift.

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

"The switch off for 10 minutes after half-time damaged us immensely. The first try was avoidable and should not be scored in a Test match.

"We're deeply disappointed. So proud the players had a dig but very frustrated with that post-interval, which cost us heavily."

Although the next World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere is just under 12 months away, the team's short-term goal will be on attempting to regain respect, preventing a 3-0 sweep and eradicating the mistakes that frustrated Wane.

"I hoped to see greater effort directed toward Australia. I wanted us to build pressure in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We did this week. It's just a bit of detail in our attack where we could have applied under greater stress. We need to defend both [tries] with greater resolve.

"Fair play to the Kangaroos - that is no slight to them. They turn up and are clinical when they seize opportunities, and we failed to be, but in defense we can and should do enhance.

"The Australians will be determined to win all three Tests and we need to be equally determined to make it a respectable scoreline. I've told that to the players. It has to be our primary goal. It will be a challenging week but whoever desires it the most will secure victory next week."

Intensity Needs to Improve in Super League

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

However Wane believes that the caliber of the Australian league - and quality of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and Queensland - offer a more effective foundation for performing at the highest level of the global stage than what is on offer in the UK.

The England coach commented that the congested domestic league calendar allowed no time for him to coach his players during the season, which will only pose more issues around how England can narrow the difference to Australia before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

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

"England play 10-15 a year. It's crucial highly competitive games to enhance the domestic league and improve our chances of winning these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even practice with the players. We never got on the field in the season and I had the total cooperation of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the boots of the head coaches that must to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but it's not the reason we were defeated today."