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According to leader the England captain, England were delivered a harsh "wake-up call" as the Kangaroos won the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 triumph at the Merseyside venue on Saturday gave them a commanding series edge, making next week's Headingley encounter a academic contest.

The England team had come into the series holding aspirations of sending Australia to their initial series loss since the 1970s.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a dominant victory over Tonga and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition resumed after a two-decade hiatus, the English were unable to advance further against the top-ranked team.

"We're not making excuses. There were enough sessions to get it right on the pitch, and it's clear we've managed that," the captain stated.

"Australia deserve praise. They were good defensively. But we've got plenty to improve. We're probably not as strong as we believed we were entering this series.

"This serves as a good reality check for us, and [there is] loads to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Are Ruthless'

Having been heavily outplayed in an mistake-ridden performance at Wembley, Wane side's were much improved on the weekend back in the core regions of the North.

During an energetic opening period, England caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had all the field position and ball control, but importantly did not capitalize on the points tally.

Significantly, England have now scored just a single touchdown over the series so far, with St Helens hooker the forward powering through late on in the defeat in London.

On the other hand, Australia have accumulated six in two games - and when blunders began to appear in the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First Cameron Munster went over, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, England were trailing by 10.

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

"The switch off for 10 minutes after half-time cost us immensely. The first try was soft and should never happen in a international fixture.

"The team is devastated. Extremely pleased the squad had a go but very frustrated with that post-interval, which hurt us heavily."

While the upcoming global tournament in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under 12 months away, England's short-term goal will be on trying to salvage honor, preventing a 3-0 sweep and eliminating the issues that frustrated the coach.

"I hoped to see more directed toward the opposition. I wanted us to maintain momentum in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. It's just a lack of precision in our offensive play where we could have applied under greater stress. It's essential to stop each of [tries] more effectively.

"Credit to Australia - that is not a criticism to them. They turn up and are ruthless when they seize opportunities, and we weren't, but defensively we can and should do improve.

"The Australians will be focused to win all three Tests and we need to be obsessed to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the squad. It has to be our main aim. It's going to be a difficult week but whoever strives for it the greatest will get the win next week."

Competitive Edge Must to Elevate in Super League

England have participated in a similar number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the previous global tournament in 2022.

Yet Wane believes that the caliber of the NRL - and standard of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and QLD - deliver a more effective preparation for competing at the top of the international game than what is available in the Europe.

Wane added that the packed Super League fixture schedule left little opportunity for him to work with his players during the season, which will only pose further questions around how the national team can close the divide to the Kangaroos before heading to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"They participate in a large number of Test matches in their competition," Wane added.

"England have ten to fifteen a year. We need demanding games to enhance the domestic league and boost our chances of winning these types of matches.

"It was impossible to even train with the squad. We never trained together in the campaign and despite having the total cooperation of all clubs in the domestic competition.

"I understand in the boots of the club managers that need to win games. The competition is that tight. It's unfortunate but it's not the cause we got beaten today."