England's Rugby League Ashes Hopes End with Brutal 'Reality Check'

In the words of captain George Williams, England were given a harsh "sobering lesson" as the Kangaroos won the Rugby League Ashes.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 triumph at the Merseyside venue on Saturday gave them a 2-0 series lead, making next week's Headingley encounter a academic contest.

Shaun Wane's side had come into the series holding aspirations of sending Australia to their first Ashes series defeat since over five decades ago.

Recently, they had achieved a dominant victory over the Tongan side and a 2-0 triumph over the Samoan team. But as the Rugby League Ashes returned after a 22-year absence, England were unable to make the leap against the reigning title holders.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough preparations to execute properly on the field, and it's clear we've quite done that," Williams told.

"Credit to Australia. They proved good in defense. But there's loads to work on. It seems not as prepared as we believed we were entering this series.

"This serves as a good wake-up call for us, and [there is] loads to improve on."

Australia 'Arrive and Are Clinical'

After being soundly beaten in an sloppy showing at Wembley, England's were significantly better on the weekend back in the rugby league heartlands of the North.

In a rousing first half, the home side elicited errors from the Kangaroos and had superior positioning and possession, but crucially did not make it count on the scoreboard.

Notably, England have now scored just one try over 160 minutes, with player the forward scoring late on in the setback in the capital.

On the other hand, the Kangaroos have accumulated half a dozen across the series - and when mistakes began to affect the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First the playmaker went over, and then so too did the forward. From being level at four-all, the home side were 10 points adrift.

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

"The switch off for a brief period after half-time damaged us greatly. The first try was easy and should not be scored in a top-level game.

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

Although the next World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea is just under a year from now, England's immediate focus will be on trying to restore some pride, preventing a clean sweep and addressing the errors that frustrated the coach.

"I wanted to see greater effort thrown at Australia. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we fell short last week," added the veteran coach.

"We managed this week. The issue is a bit of detail in our offense where we could have put them under greater stress. It's essential to stop each of [tries] better.

"Fair play to Australia - that is not a criticism to them. They perform and are merciless when they get a chance, and we weren't, but defensively we can and should do improve.

"They will be obsessed to win the series whitewash and we need to be obsessed to make it 2-1. I've said that to the players. This must become our main aim. It's going to be a tough week but whoever desires it the most will get the win next week."

Intensity Must to Increase in Domestic Competition

England have played a similar number of international fixtures to the Kangaroos since the last World Cup in recent years.

Yet the coach believes that the quality of the Australian league - and level of the State of Origin matches between NSW and Queensland - deliver a much better foundation for competing at the highest level of the international game than what is available in the Europe.

Wane commented that the congested domestic league fixture schedule allowed little opportunity for him to coach his players during the season, which will only pose additional concerns around how the national team can narrow the difference to the Kangaroos before heading to the Southern Hemisphere in the next World Cup.

"The Australians play a large number of Test matches in their competition," Wane remarked.

"We play 10-15 a year. It's crucial really intense games to boost the competition and improve our chances of succeeding in these types of matches.

"I couldn't even train with the squad. There was no chance to trained together in the season and I had the total cooperation of everyone in the domestic competition.

"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 it's not the cause we lost today."