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In the words of skipper George Williams, England were given a brutal "wake-up call" as the Kangaroos clinched the Rugby League Ashes.

Australia's decisive 14-4 win at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday gave them a commanding series edge, making next week's Headingley encounter a meaningless fixture.

Shaun Wane's side had entered the series dreaming of inflicting the Kangaroos to their initial series loss since 1970.

Recently, they had enjoyed a dominant victory over Tonga and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes returned after a two-decade hiatus, England were failed to take the next step against the reigning title holders.

"No excuses from us. There were enough training periods to execute properly on the field, and I don't think we've quite done that," Williams told.

"Australia deserve praise. They were good in defense. But we've got plenty to work on. We're probably not as good as we believed we were entering this series.

"This serves as a necessary wake-up call for us, and we have plenty to improve on."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Prove Merciless'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an error-strewn display at Wembley, England's were markedly enhanced on the weekend back in the rugby league heartlands of the North.

During an energetic initial stages, the home side forced mistakes from the Australians and had superior positioning and possession, but importantly did not capitalize on the points tally.

Significantly, the English team have now managed just one try over two full matches, with player Daryl Clark scoring late on in the defeat in London.

On the other hand, Australia have accumulated half a dozen across the series - and when mistakes began to creep into the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be heavily penalized.

Initially the playmaker crossed, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being level at 4-4, the home side were trailing by 10.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. I thought for 70 minutes we were good," said Wane.

"The lapse for a brief period after the break hurt us greatly. Munster's try was avoidable and should not be scored in a international fixture.

"We're devastated. So proud the squad had a dig but so disappointed with that after half-time, which cost us heavily."

While the upcoming global tournament in the Southern Hemisphere is just under next year, England's immediate focus will be on trying to salvage honor, preventing a series whitewash and eradicating the errors that annoyed the coach.

"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 veteran coach.

"We managed this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our attack where we could have put them under greater stress. It's essential to defend both [tries] more effectively.

"Credit to Australia - that is no detriment to them. They turn up and are clinical when they capitalize, and we weren't, but defensively we must do enhance.

"The Australians will be determined to win all three Tests and we need to be obsessed to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the squad. This must become our main aim. It will be a challenging week but the side that strives for it the most will secure victory next week."

Intensity Must to Increase in Domestic Competition

The English side have participated in a comparable number of Test matches to Australia since the last World Cup in recent years.

Yet Wane thinks that the quality of the NRL - and level of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and Queensland - provide a much better grounding for competing at the top of the international game than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

Wane noted that the congested domestic league fixture schedule left no time for him to train his team during the campaign, which will only raise more issues around how the national team can bridge the gap to Australia before travelling to Oceania in 2026.

"They play a large number of internationals in their competition," Wane added.

"We play 10-15 a year. We need demanding games to enhance the domestic league and boost our chances of succeeding in these high-stakes fixtures.

"It was impossible to even train with the players. We never trained together in the campaign and despite having the full backing of all clubs in Super League.

"I have also been in the position of the club managers that need to win games. The competition is that tight. It's unfortunate but that's not the cause we lost today."