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In the words of skipper the England captain, England were given a brutal "wake-up call" as Australia secured the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 victory at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's sold-out third Test a dead rubber.

Shaun Wane's side had entered the series holding aspirations of sending Australia to their first Ashes series defeat since the 1970s.

Over the last 24 months, they had secured a clean sweep over Tonga and a success over Samoa. But as the historic rivalry returned after a two-decade hiatus, England were unable to take the next step against the top-ranked team.

"No excuses from us. There were enough preparations to execute properly on the field, and I don't think we've achieved that," Williams stated.

"Australia deserve praise. They proved strong in defense. But we've got a lot to improve. We're probably not as strong as we believed we were entering this series.

"This serves as a good lesson for us, and [there is] loads to develop."

The Kangaroos 'Show Up and Are Merciless'

Having been comprehensively defeated in an mistake-ridden performance at Wembley, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on Saturday back in the core regions of the North.

During an energetic opening period, England elicited errors from the Kangaroos and had superior positioning and possession, but importantly did not capitalize on the points tally.

Tellingly, the English team have now managed just one try over the series so far, with St Helens hooker Daryl Clark powering through late on in the defeat in London.

Conversely, Australia have accumulated half a dozen across the series - and when blunders began to creep into the England's play just after the break, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First the playmaker went over, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being tied at four-all, England were down by double digits.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. In my view for most of the match we were good," said the coach.

"The switch off for 10 minutes after half-time damaged us greatly. The first try was avoidable and should not be scored in a international fixture.

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

While the upcoming global tournament in the Southern Hemisphere is just under next year, the team's primary concern will be on attempting to restore some pride, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and eradicating the issues that irritated Wane.

"I wanted to see greater effort directed toward the opposition. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. It's just a minor refinements in our attack where we could have put them under more pressure. It's essential to defend both [tries] more effectively.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no slight to them. They perform and are ruthless when they capitalize, and we failed to be, but defensively we must do better.

"They will be obsessed to win 3-0 and we need to be equally determined to make it a respectable scoreline. I've told that to the squad. It has to be our primary goal. It will be a tough week but the side that wants it the greatest will secure victory next week."

Intensity Needs to Elevate in Super League

England have participated in a similar number of Test matches to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in recent years.

Yet the coach thinks that the caliber of the Australian league - and quality of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and Queensland - provide a much better preparation for performing at the highest level of the international game than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach added that the congested domestic league calendar left little opportunity for him to train his players during the season, which will only pose further questions around how England can bridge the gap to the Kangaroos before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.

"They participate in a lot of Test matches in their competition," he stated.

"We have ten to fifteen a year. We need really intense games to boost the domestic league and increase our prospects of succeeding in these high-stakes fixtures.

"It was impossible to even train with the players. There was no chance to trained together in the season and despite having the total cooperation of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the boots of the head coaches that need to win games. The league is that tight. It's a pity but it's not the cause we got beaten today."