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According to skipper the England captain, the national team were given a harsh "sobering lesson" as Australia won the coveted Ashes trophy.

Australia's 14-4 victory at the stadium in Liverpool on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's Headingley encounter a academic contest.

The England team had come into the series dreaming of inflicting Australia to their initial series loss since over five decades ago.

In the past two years, they had enjoyed a clean sweep over the Tongan side and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition returned after a 22-year absence, England were failed to make the leap against the reigning title holders.

"No excuses from us. We've had enough training periods to perform correctly on the pitch, and it's clear we've quite done that," the captain stated.

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

"So it's a good lesson for us, and [there is] loads to develop."

Australia 'Show Up and Prove Merciless'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, England's were much improved on Saturday back in the core regions of the North.

In an inspiring first half, England caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory and possession, but crucially did not capitalize on the scoreboard.

Significantly, England have now scored just one score over two full matches, with St Helens hooker the forward powering through late on in the loss in the capital.

In contrast, the Kangaroos have scored half a dozen in two games - and when errors began to appear in the England's play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be severely punished.

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

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

"The lapse for 10 minutes after the break hurt us greatly. Munster's try was easy and should not be scored in a top-level game.

"The team is heartbroken. Extremely pleased the players had a fight but very frustrated with that after half-time, which cost us dearly."

While the upcoming global tournament in the Southern Hemisphere is just under 12 months away, the team's short-term goal will be on attempting to restore some pride, avoiding a clean sweep and eliminating the mistakes that frustrated Wane.

"I wanted to see more directed toward the opposition. I wanted us to build pressure in the game - we fell short last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. The issue is a minor refinements in our offense where we could have applied under increased strain. We need to defend both [tries] with greater resolve.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is not a criticism to them. They perform and are ruthless when they seize opportunities, and we weren't, but in defense we must do improve.

"They will be obsessed to win all three Tests and we need to be obsessed to make it a respectable scoreline. I've told that to the players. This must become our primary goal. It will be a challenging week but the side that strives for it the greatest will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Needs to Improve in Domestic Competition

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

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

The England coach added that the hectic domestic league fixture list allowed little opportunity for him to train his team during the season, which will only raise further questions around how the national team can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in 2026.

"The Australians participate in a large number of Test matches in their league," Wane stated.

"England play ten to fifteen a year. We need highly competitive games to improve the competition and increase our chances of winning these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even train with the squad. There was no chance to trained together in the season and I had the full backing of all clubs in the domestic competition.

"I have also been in the boots of the club managers that must to win games. The league is that packed. It's a pity but that's not the reason we lost today."