Australia Defeat England to Secure Ashes
According to captain George Williams, the national team were handed a harsh "wake-up call" as Australia won the coveted Ashes trophy.
Australia's decisive 14-4 win at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's final match in Leeds a academic contest.
Shaun Wane's side had entered the series holding aspirations of inflicting the Kangaroos to their maiden Ashes setback since over five decades ago.
Recently, they had achieved a clean sweep over the Tongan side and a success over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition returned after a long break, England were failed to take the next step against the top-ranked team.
"We take full responsibility. We've had enough preparations to perform correctly on the pitch, and it's clear we've quite done that," the captain told.
"Australia deserve praise. They proved strong in defense. But there's a lot to address. It seems not as prepared as we thought we were entering this series.
"So it's a valuable lesson for us, and [there is] loads to enhance."
The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Prove Clinical'
Australia scored two touchdowns in a brief period during the second half of the recent encounter
Having been soundly beaten in an mistake-ridden performance at the national stadium, Wane side's were much improved on Saturday back in the core regions of the North.
In a rousing opening period, England caused turnovers from the Kangaroos and had all the field position and possession, but importantly did not capitalize on the scoreboard.
Significantly, England have now scored just one score over the series so far, with player Daryl Clark powering through late on in the loss in London.
In contrast, Australia have racked up half a dozen across the series - and when blunders began to appear in the hosts' play just after the break, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be severely punished.
First Cameron Munster crossed, and then so too did the forward. From being level at 4-4, England were trailing by 10.
"Proud for the bulk of the game. In my view for 70 minutes we were solid," said Wane.
"The switch off for a brief period after half-time cost us severely. Munster's try was avoidable and should never happen in a international fixture.
"We're deeply disappointed. Extremely pleased the players had a dig 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 short-term goal will be on attempting to regain respect, avoiding a series whitewash and eradicating the mistakes that frustrated the coach.
"I hoped to see additional intensity thrown at the opposition. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we fell short 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. We need to defend both [tries] more effectively.
"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is not a criticism to them. They arrive and are ruthless when they seize opportunities, and we failed to be, but defensively we can and should do better.
"The Australians will be determined to win all three Tests and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the squad. This must become our primary goal. It's going to be a difficult week but whoever strives for it the most will get the win next week."
Intensity Needs to Elevate in Super League
England have participated in a comparable number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in 2022.
However the coach argues that the strength of the Australian league - and standard of the State of Origin matches between NSW and QLD - offer a much better preparation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the Europe.
The England coach added that the congested Super League fixture schedule left little opportunity for him to coach his players during the season, which will only pose additional concerns around how England can close the divide to the Kangaroos before travelling to Oceania in the next World Cup.
"They play a lot of Test matches in their competition," Wane stated.
"England have 10-15 a year. We need really intense games to enhance the competition and increase our chances of winning these types of matches.
"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 all clubs in Super League.
"I understand in the position of the head coaches that must to win games. The league is that tight. It's unfortunate but it's not the reason we lost today."
