Australia Overcome England to Retain the Rugby League Ashes
According to captain the England captain, the national team were delivered a stark "reality check" as the Kangaroos clinched the coveted Ashes trophy.
Australia's 14-4 victory at the stadium in Liverpool on Saturday gave them a unassailable 2-0 advantage, making next week's final match in Leeds a academic contest.
The England team had entered the series dreaming of sending Australia to their maiden Ashes setback since over five decades ago.
Recently, they had secured a clean sweep over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over the Samoan team. But as the prestigious competition resumed after a long break, the English were unable to advance further against the top-ranked team.
"We're not making excuses. We've had enough sessions to execute properly on the field, and it's clear we've managed that," the captain told.
"Australia deserve praise. They were excellent defensively. But we've got plenty to address. We're probably not as prepared as we believed we were entering this series.
"This serves as a valuable reality check for us, and there is much to enhance."
The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Prove Ruthless'
Australia notched two touchdowns in a five-minute spell during the closing segment of the Weekend clash
Having been soundly beaten in an mistake-ridden performance at Wembley, Wane side's were markedly enhanced on the weekend back in the traditional strongholds of the North.
In a rousing first half, the home side elicited errors from the Kangaroos and had dominant territory and ball control, but importantly did not capitalize on the points tally.
Tellingly, England have now managed just a single touchdown over two full matches, with player Daryl Clark scoring late on in the defeat in London.
On the other hand, Australia have accumulated half a dozen across the series - and when blunders began to appear in the hosts' play just after the interval, it was a case of certainty, they were going to be made to pay.
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 70 minutes we were competitive," said the coach.
"The switch off for a brief period after the break hurt us severely. Munster's try was soft and should not be scored in a top-level game.
"The team is devastated. Extremely pleased the squad had a fight but so disappointed with that second-half lapse, which proved costly dearly."
While the upcoming global tournament in the Southern Hemisphere is just under 12 months away, England's short-term goal will be on attempting to salvage honor, avoiding a 3-0 sweep and eradicating the errors that annoyed Wane.
"I hoped to see more thrown at Australia. My aim was us to apply sustained attack in the game - we failed to deliver last week," added the 61-year-old.
"We managed this week. It's just a minor refinements in our attack where we could have put them under increased strain. We need to stop each of [tries] with greater resolve.
"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is no slight to them. They turn up and are merciless when they get a chance, and we failed to be, but defensively we must do better.
"They will be determined to win 3-0 and we need to be just as focused to make it a respectable scoreline. I've said that to the squad. It has to be our obsession. It's going to be a challenging week but the side that desires it the greatest will secure victory next week."
Competitive Edge Must to Improve in Domestic Competition
The English side have participated in a similar number of Test matches to Australia since the previous global tournament in recent years.
Yet Wane believes that the caliber of the NRL - and quality of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and Queensland - deliver a much better grounding for performing at the highest level of the international game than what is on offer in the Europe.
Wane commented that the congested Super League calendar left little opportunity for him to work with his players during the campaign, which will only pose further questions around how England can bridge the gap to Australia before heading to Oceania in the next World Cup.
"The Australians participate in a large number of internationals in their competition," Wane stated.
"England have ten to fifteen a year. We need demanding games to boost the domestic league and increase our chances of winning these types of matches.
"I couldn't even practice with the players. There was no chance to trained together in the campaign and I had the complete support of everyone in the domestic competition.
"I have also been in the boots of the club managers that must to win games. The competition is that congested. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we were defeated today."
