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According to skipper the England captain, the national team were handed a stark "reality check" as Australia won the prestigious series.

Australia's decisive 14-4 win at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on the weekend gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making the upcoming Headingley encounter a meaningless fixture.

The national squad had entered the series dreaming of sending the Kangaroos to their maiden Ashes setback since 1970.

Recently, they had achieved a clean sweep over the Tongan side and a 2-0 triumph over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition returned after a long break, the English were failed to take the next step against the world champions.

"We're not making excuses. We've had enough sessions to perform correctly on the field, and I don't think we've quite done that," Williams commented.

"Credit to Australia. They were strong in defense. But we've got a lot to work on. It seems not as prepared as we believed we were going into this series.

"This serves as a valuable wake-up call for us, and [there is] loads to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Arrive and Are Clinical'

Having been heavily outplayed in an error-strewn display at Wembley, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on the weekend back in the core regions of the North.

During an energetic opening period, England caused turnovers from the Australians and had all the field position and possession, but importantly did not convert opportunities on the scoreboard.

Significantly, the English team have now managed just a single touchdown over two full matches, with player the forward scoring late on in the setback in the capital.

In contrast, the Kangaroos have scored six so far - and when mistakes began to appear in the hosts' play just after the break, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be severely punished.

Initially the playmaker crossed, and then so too did the forward. From being tied at 4-4, the home side were down by double digits.

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

"The drop in intensity for 10 minutes after half-time hurt us immensely. Munster's try was easy and should never happen in a Test match.

"The team is deeply disappointed. So proud the squad had a dig but so disappointed with that after half-time, which hurt us dearly."

Although the next World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere is just under a year from now, England's primary concern will be on trying to salvage honor, preventing a clean sweep and addressing the issues that annoyed the coach.

"I wanted to see additional intensity thrown at the opposition. I wanted us to maintain momentum in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the 61-year-old.

"We managed this week. It's just a lack of precision in our attack where we could have put them under more pressure. We need to stop each of [tries] with greater resolve.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no slight to them. They perform and are merciless when they capitalize, and we weren't, but in defense we can and should do better.

"They 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 players. This must become our primary goal. It's going to be a difficult week but whoever strives for it the greatest will emerge victorious next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Elevate in Domestic Competition

England have played a similar number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in 2022.

Yet Wane thinks that the strength of the NRL - and standard of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and QLD - deliver a more effective grounding for competing at the top of the global stage than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach commented that the packed Super League fixture schedule left little opportunity for him to coach his team during the campaign, which will only pose further questions around how England can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before heading to Oceania in 2026.

"The Australians play a large number of internationals in their competition," he remarked.

"We play 10-15 a year. We need highly competitive games to enhance the domestic league and boost our prospects of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even practice with the players. There was no chance to trained together in the campaign and I had the full backing of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the boots of the head coaches that need to win games. The league is that congested. It's unfortunate but it's not the reason we lost today."