After the World Cup, Priestland announced his intention to take an 18-month break from international duty, a decision that former Wales fly-half Phil Bennett suggested would put a permanent end to Priestland's international career; however, two months later, Priestland reversed his decision in the hope of being picked in the Wales squad for the 2016 Six Nations. He was ultimately selected for the tournament, and made an appearance off the bench in the opening match against Ireland after Biggar suffered an early injury; he scored 11 points in the match, landing a conversion and three penalties, but missed a late drop goal attempt as the match finished 16–16. Biggar recovered in time to keep the starting job for the next game against Scotland, and in each of the next three games, Priestland was restricted to no more than cameo appearances in the final 10 minutes, although he did land two conversions as Wales mounted a late, but unsuccessful comeback against England. With Wales leading 46–7 in the final match against Italy, Priestland came on to play the final 22 minutes, and was successful with all three of his conversion attempts as Wales went on to win 67–14. That summer, Priestland was again picked for Wales' tour of New Zealand; ahead of the tour, he appeared in the final 25 minutes of their 27–13 loss to England at Twickenham. He was then left out of the first test against New Zealand, but after he scored a conversion in Wales' 40–7 loss to the Chiefs, he replaced the injured Gareth Anscombe as Biggar's back-up and came off the bench in each of the last two tests, setting up a try for Liam Williams in the second test.