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As stated by captain George Williams, England were handed a brutal "reality check" as Australia secured the prestigious series.

Australia's 14-4 victory at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday gave them a commanding series edge, making next week's final match in Leeds a dead rubber.

The national squad had come into the series holding aspirations of sending the Kangaroos to their initial series loss since the 1970s.

Recently, they had achieved a dominant victory over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the Rugby League Ashes returned after a 22-year absence, the English were unable to take the next step against the top-ranked team.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough sessions to perform correctly on the pitch, and it's clear we've quite done that," the captain stated.

"Credit to Australia. They proved good defensively. But there's loads to work on. We're probably not as good as we thought we were entering this series.

"This serves as a good reality check for us, and we have plenty to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Are Clinical'

After being heavily outplayed in an sloppy showing at the national stadium, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on Saturday back in the rugby league heartlands of England's north.

In an inspiring first half, England caused turnovers from the Australians and had dominant territory and ball control, but crucially did not make it count on the scoreboard.

Tellingly, England have now scored just one score over 160 minutes, with St Helens hooker Daryl Clark powering through late on in the defeat in the capital.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos have scored half a dozen so far - and when errors began to appear in the England's play just after the break, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be made to pay.

Initially the playmaker went over, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, the home side were 10 points adrift.

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

"The drop in intensity for a brief period after half-time cost us immensely. The first try was soft and should never happen in a international fixture.

"We're devastated. Extremely pleased the players had a dig but very frustrated with that after half-time, which hurt us significantly."

Although the next World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere is just under 12 months away, England's primary concern will be on attempting to restore some pride, preventing a series whitewash and eliminating the issues that frustrated the coach.

"I wanted to see greater effort thrown at Australia. My aim was us to build pressure in the game - we fell short last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our offensive play where we could have put them under more pressure. We need to stop each of [tries] better.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no detriment to them. They arrive and are ruthless when they capitalize, and we weren't, but defensively we must do improve.

"They will be obsessed to win all three Tests and we need to be just as focused to make it 2-1. I've told that to the players. This must become our main aim. It's going to be a difficult week but the side that strives for it the greatest will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Needs to Increase in Domestic Competition

The English side have participated in a similar number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in recent years.

Yet Wane believes that the quality of the Australian league - and standard of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and QLD - provide a much better grounding for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

Wane noted that the congested Super League fixture list allowed little opportunity for him to train his squad during the season, which will only raise further questions around how the national team can close the divide to the Kangaroos before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"They play a lot of Test matches in their league," he stated.

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

"It was impossible to even train with the squad. There was no chance to got on the field in the season and despite having the total cooperation of everyone in the domestic competition.

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