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As stated by skipper the England captain, England were delivered a harsh "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos secured the coveted Ashes trophy.

Australia's decisive 14-4 win at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making the upcoming final match in Leeds a academic contest.

The England team had entered the series harbouring hopes of inflicting the Kangaroos to their initial series loss since 1970.

Recently, they had achieved a clean sweep over the Tongan side and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the historic rivalry returned after a two-decade hiatus, the English were failed to make the leap against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. There were enough sessions to execute properly on the field, and it's clear we've quite done that," the captain commented.

"Full marks to the Kangaroos. They were good in defense. But there's a lot to address. It seems not as prepared as we believed we were entering this series.

"This serves as a valuable lesson for us, and we have plenty to improve on."

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Prove Ruthless'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an mistake-ridden performance at Wembley, Wane side's were significantly better on the weekend back in the core regions of the North.

In an inspiring initial stages, England caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory and ball control, but crucially did not convert opportunities on the scoreboard.

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

Conversely, Australia have accumulated half a dozen in two games - and when mistakes began to appear in the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be made to pay.

Initially Cameron Munster crossed, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being level at four-all, England were down by double digits.

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

"The lapse for a brief period after the break cost us severely. The first try was soft and should not be scored in a Test match.

"The team is heartbroken. So proud the squad had a fight but so disappointed with that post-interval, which hurt us significantly."

Although the next World Cup in Oceania is just under 12 months away, the team's short-term goal will be on attempting to restore some pride, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the errors that annoyed the coach.

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

"We did this week. It's just a bit of detail in our offense where we could have put them under increased strain. We need to stop each of [tries] better.

"Fair play to Australia - 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 obsessed to win all three Tests and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the players. This must become our obsession. It will be a challenging week but the side that wants it the most will emerge victorious next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Improve in Domestic Competition

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

Yet the coach believes that the quality of the Australian league - and quality of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and Queensland - offer a much better foundation for competing at the top of the international game than what is available in the Europe.

The England coach noted that the hectic domestic league calendar left little opportunity for him to coach his squad during the season, which will only raise additional concerns around how England can bridge the gap to the Kangaroos before heading to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"They play a lot of internationals in their competition," Wane stated.

"England have ten to fifteen a year. We need demanding games to boost the competition and increase our chances of winning these high-stakes fixtures.

"I couldn't even train with the squad. There was no chance to trained together in the season and despite having the total cooperation of everyone in the domestic competition.

"I understand in the position of the head coaches that must to win games. The competition is that packed. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we lost today."