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As stated by skipper the England captain, the national team were handed a stark "reality check" as the Kangaroos clinched the prestigious series.

The Kangaroos' decisive 14-4 win at the stadium in Liverpool on Saturday gave them a 2-0 series lead, making the upcoming sold-out third Test a academic contest.

Shaun Wane's side had come into the series holding aspirations of sending Australia to their initial series loss since the 1970s.

Recently, they had enjoyed a dominant victory over Tonga and a series win over Samoa. But as the prestigious competition resumed after a two-decade hiatus, the English were failed to make the leap against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough sessions to get it right on the pitch, and I don't think we've quite done that," the captain stated.

"Full marks to the Kangaroos. They were strong defensively. But we've got plenty to address. We're probably not as good as we expected we were going into this series.

"So it's a valuable reality check for us, and [there is] loads to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Prove Clinical'

After being heavily outplayed in an error-strewn display at Wembley, Wane side's were significantly better on the weekend back in the core regions of England's north.

During an energetic initial stages, England forced mistakes from the Kangaroos and had all the field position and possession, but importantly did not capitalize on the points tally.

Notably, the English team have now scored just one score over the series so far, with player the forward powering through late on in the defeat in London.

On the other hand, Australia have racked up six so far - and when blunders began to creep into the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be heavily penalized.

Initially Cameron Munster went over, and then so too did the forward. From being level at four-all, the home side were trailing by 10.

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

"The switch off for 10 minutes after the break hurt us immensely. Munster's try was soft and should not be scored in a international fixture.

"The team is devastated. So proud the players had a go but so disappointed with that after half-time, which proved costly dearly."

While the upcoming global tournament in Oceania is just under next year, the team's short-term goal will be on attempting to salvage honor, preventing a clean sweep and eliminating the issues that annoyed Wane.

"I wanted to see greater effort directed toward the opposition. My aim was us to apply sustained attack 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 defend both [tries] better.

"Credit to Australia - that is not a criticism to them. They arrive and are ruthless when they capitalize, and we failed to be, but in defense we must do improve.

"They will be determined to win all three Tests and we need to be equally determined to make it 2-1. I've told that to the squad. It has to be our main aim. It will be a challenging week but whoever wants it the most will get the win next week."

Intensity Must to Elevate in Domestic Competition

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

However Wane argues that the quality of the NRL - and quality of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and Queensland - offer a much better foundation for competing at the top of the international game than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

Wane noted that the hectic Super League calendar left no time for him to coach his squad during the campaign, which will only raise additional concerns around how England can bridge the gap to the Kangaroos before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in 2026.

"The Australians play a large number of Test matches in their competition," he added.

"England play 10-15 a year. It's crucial demanding games to improve the domestic league and boost our prospects of winning these types of matches.

"It was impossible to even practice with the squad. We never got on the field in the season and I had the total cooperation of everyone in Super League.

"I have also been in the boots of the head coaches that must to win games. The competition is that congested. It's a pity but that's not the reason we lost today."