🔗 Share this article

As stated by captain the England captain, England were delivered a brutal "wake-up call" as the Kangaroos clinched the coveted Ashes trophy.

The Kangaroos' 14-4 triumph at the Merseyside venue on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making next week's Headingley encounter a meaningless fixture.

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

In the past two years, they had secured a dominant victory over Tonga and a success over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition resumed after a 22-year absence, the English were unable to make the leap against the top-ranked team.

"We're not making excuses. There were enough training periods to perform correctly on the pitch, and it's clear we've achieved that," the captain stated.

"Full marks to the Kangaroos. They were good defensively. But we've got plenty to work on. We're probably not as prepared as we thought we were entering this series.

"This serves as a good wake-up call for us, and there is much to develop."

Australia 'Show Up and Prove Merciless'

Having been heavily outplayed in an error-strewn display at Wembley, England's were significantly better on Saturday back in the traditional strongholds of the North.

In a rousing opening period, the home side elicited errors from the Kangaroos and had superior positioning and ball control, but crucially did not make it count on the points tally.

Notably, the English team have now managed just a single touchdown over the series so far, with player the forward barging over late on in the loss in London.

On the other hand, Australia have accumulated half a dozen so far - and when blunders began to appear in the hosts' play just after the half-time, it was a case of inevitability, they were going to be heavily penalized.

First Cameron Munster scored, and then so too did the forward. From being level at 4-4, England were 10 points adrift.

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

"The switch off for a brief period after half-time cost us immensely. Munster's try was easy and should never happen in a Test match.

"We're heartbroken. Extremely pleased the squad had a go but very frustrated with that second-half lapse, which hurt us significantly."

Although the next World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere is just under next year, the team's primary concern will be on trying to regain respect, preventing a clean sweep and eliminating the issues that irritated the coach.

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

"We managed this week. It's just a minor refinements in our attack where we could have applied under greater stress. We need to defend both [tries] with greater resolve.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no slight to them. They arrive and are clinical when they get a chance, and we failed to be, but defensively we can and should do better.

"The Australians will be determined to win 3-0 and we need to be obsessed to make it a respectable scoreline. I've told that to the squad. It has to be our obsession. It will be a challenging week but the side that wants it the most will secure victory next week."

Intensity Needs to Elevate in Domestic Competition

The English side have participated in a similar number of Test matches to Australia since the last World Cup in 2022.

Yet Wane thinks that the caliber of the NRL - and standard of the domestic rivalry matches between NSW and Queensland - provide a more effective preparation for performing at the top of the global stage than what is on offer in the northern hemisphere.

Wane added that the hectic domestic league fixture schedule left little opportunity for him to work with his squad during the campaign, which will only raise further questions around how England can bridge the gap to Australia before travelling to Oceania in 2026.

"They participate in a large number of Test matches in their competition," he added.

"We play ten to fifteen a year. We need demanding games to boost the competition and increase our chances of winning these sorts of games.

"I couldn't even train with the squad. We never got on the field in the campaign and I had the total cooperation of everyone in the domestic competition.

"I understand in the boots of the club managers that need to win games. The league is that tight. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we were defeated today."