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In the words of captain the England captain, England were given a harsh "reality check" as Australia clinched the coveted Ashes trophy.

Australia's 14-4 triumph at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making next week's final match in Leeds a dead rubber.

The national squad had entered the series harbouring hopes of inflicting the Kangaroos to their maiden Ashes setback since 1970.

In the past two years, they had secured a dominant victory over the Tongan side and a success over Samoa. But as the prestigious competition returned after a 22-year absence, England were failed to advance further against the world champions.

"No excuses from us. There were enough training periods to get it right on the pitch, and I don't think we've achieved that," the captain told.

"Australia deserve praise. They proved good in defense. But there's loads to address. We're probably not as prepared as we believed we were entering this series.

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

Australia 'Show Up and Are Ruthless'

After being heavily outplayed in an error-strewn display at the national stadium, England's were significantly better on Saturday back in the core regions of northern England.

During an energetic initial stages, England forced mistakes from the Kangaroos and had superior positioning and ball control, but crucially did not make it count on the scoreboard.

Tellingly, the English team have now managed just one try over 160 minutes, with St Helens hooker the forward scoring late on in the setback in London.

On the other hand, Australia have racked up six across the series - and when blunders began to affect the hosts' play just after the half-time, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be severely punished.

Initially Cameron Munster crossed, and then so too did the forward. From being level at four-all, England were down by double digits.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. In my view for 70 minutes we were competitive," said the coach.

"The lapse for 10 minutes after the break hurt us severely. Munster's try was avoidable and should never happen in a international fixture.

"We're devastated. So proud the squad had a go but so disappointed with that second-half lapse, which cost us heavily."

While the upcoming global tournament in the Southern Hemisphere 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 irritated the coach.

"I hoped to see greater effort thrown at the opposition. My aim was us to build pressure in the game - we fell short last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. It's just a bit of detail in our attack where we could have applied under more pressure. It's essential to defend both [tries] with greater resolve.

"Fair play to Australia - that is no detriment to them. They perform and are ruthless when they get a chance, and we weren't, but defensively we can and should do better.

"The Australians will be focused to win all three Tests and we need to be equally determined to make it a competitive series. I've said that to the squad. It has to be our main aim. It's going to be a challenging week but whoever strives for it the most will get the win next week."

Competitive Edge Needs to Elevate in Domestic Competition

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

Yet the coach argues that the quality of the NRL - and quality of the domestic rivalry matches between New South Wales and Queensland - offer a superior preparation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the Europe.

The England coach commented that the packed Super League fixture list left no time for him to coach his players during the season, which will only pose more issues around how the national team can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"The Australians participate in a large number of Test matches in their competition," he remarked.

"We play ten to fifteen a year. It's crucial highly competitive games to improve the competition and increase our prospects of succeeding in these sorts of games.

"It was impossible to even practice with the players. We never trained together in the season and despite having the full backing of everyone in Super League.

"I understand in the shoes of the club managers that need to win games. The league is that congested. It's unfortunate but that's not the cause we lost today."