He led Australia to second in the 2016 Rugby Championship despite losing the first two matches on an aggregate score of 71–17 against New Zealand. Cheika lead the Wallabies to their first win of the season against South Africa in round 3, winning 23–17, before defeating Argentina the following week 36–20. Australia narrowly missed out on their first ever victory at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, losing to South Africa in Pretoria 18–10. In the final week of the Championship, Argentina hosted Australia in London, where the teams became the first to play a Rugby Championship or Tri-Nations match outside any of the SANZAAR nations. Australia were the victors, 33–21. In the final Bledisloe Cup on 22 October, Australia were defeated 37–10, conceding 18 points in the closing 20 minutes. Australia's 2016 Spring tour saw mixed results, convincingly defeating Wales 32–8 in the opening week, before narrowly defeating Scotland with a 74th minute try by Tevita Kuridrani to win 23–22. Their third game saw Cheika completely change the team for the French clash, but still managed to claim the victory 25–23. The fourth and fifths matches on the tour saw the Wallabies lose their eight and ninth tests of the year, losing to Ireland 27–24 and England 37–21, with Ireland loss killing the Australian's chances of claiming a successful Grand Slam tour.