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According to leader George Williams, England were handed a stark "sobering lesson" as Australia clinched the prestigious series.

Australia's decisive 14-4 win at the stadium in Liverpool on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making the upcoming Headingley encounter a dead rubber.

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

Over the last 24 months, they had achieved a 3-0 series win over Tonga and a series win over the Samoan team. But as the historic rivalry resumed after a two-decade hiatus, the English were failed to advance further against the reigning title holders.

"No excuses from us. We've had enough sessions to execute properly on the pitch, and it's clear we've quite done that," the captain told.

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

"So it's a valuable lesson for us, and there is much to enhance."

Australia 'Turn Up and Prove Merciless'

After being soundly beaten in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, England's were significantly better on the weekend back in the core regions of the North.

In a rousing initial stages, England forced mistakes from the Australians and had dominant territory and possession, but unfortunately did not convert opportunities on the points tally.

Tellingly, the English team have now scored just one score over the series so far, with St Helens hooker the forward powering through late on in the setback in the capital.

Conversely, Australia have scored six across the series - and when blunders began to appear in the hosts' play just after the half-time, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be severely punished.

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

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

"The lapse for 10 minutes after half-time hurt us immensely. Munster's try was easy and should not be scored in a international fixture.

"We're heartbroken. Extremely pleased the players had a go but very frustrated with that post-interval, which hurt us dearly."

Although the next World Cup in Oceania is just under a year from now, England's immediate focus will be on attempting to restore some pride, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and eradicating the errors that annoyed the coach.

"I wanted to see greater effort directed toward Australia. My aim was us to build pressure in the game - we fell short last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our offensive play where we could have put them under more pressure. It's essential to defend both [tries] better.

"Fair play to the Kangaroos - that is no detriment to them. They turn up and are clinical when they get a chance, and we failed to be, but in defense we must do enhance.

"They will be obsessed to win the series whitewash and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've told that to the players. This must become our obsession. It's going to be a difficult week but whoever wants it the greatest will get the win next week."

Intensity Needs to Elevate in Super League

England have played a comparable number of Test matches to Australia since the previous global tournament in recent years.

However the coach argues that the strength of the NRL - and level of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and QLD - provide a much better preparation for competing at the top of the global stage than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach added that the congested Super League fixture list allowed little opportunity for him to coach his team during the campaign, which will only raise additional concerns around how England can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before heading to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"The Australians participate in a lot of internationals in their league," Wane remarked.

"England play ten to fifteen a year. It's crucial highly competitive games to improve the competition and improve our prospects of winning these types of matches.

"It was impossible to even train with the players. We never got on the field in the campaign and despite having the complete support of all clubs in Super League.

"I have also been in the boots of the club managers that need to win games. The league is that congested. It's unfortunate but that's not the cause we got beaten today."