diff --git a/rollout/controller.go b/rollout/controller.go
index 479c69bd4a..d9e09c9510 100644
--- a/rollout/controller.go
+++ b/rollout/controller.go
@@ -360,14 +360,6 @@ func (c *Controller) syncHandler(key string) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	// In order to work with HPA, the rollout.Spec.Replica field cannot be nil. As a result, the controller will update
-	// the rollout to have the replicas field set to the default value. see https://github.com/argoproj/argo-rollouts/issues/119
-	if rollout.Spec.Replicas == nil {
-		logCtx.Info("Defaulting .spec.replica to 1")
-		r.Spec.Replicas = pointer.Int32Ptr(defaults.DefaultReplicas)
-		_, err := c.argoprojclientset.ArgoprojV1alpha1().Rollouts(r.Namespace).Update(ctx, r, metav1.UpdateOptions{})
-		return err
-	}
 	defer func() {
 		duration := time.Since(startTime)
 		c.metricsServer.IncRolloutReconcile(r, duration)
@@ -385,6 +377,15 @@ func (c *Controller) syncHandler(key string) error {
 		return resolveErr
 	}
 
+	// In order to work with HPA, the rollout.Spec.Replica field cannot be nil. As a result, the controller will update
+	// the rollout to have the replicas field set to the default value. see https://github.com/argoproj/argo-rollouts/issues/119
+	if rollout.Spec.Replicas == nil {
+		logCtx.Info("Defaulting .spec.replica to 1")
+		r.Spec.Replicas = pointer.Int32Ptr(defaults.DefaultReplicas)
+		_, err := c.argoprojclientset.ArgoprojV1alpha1().Rollouts(r.Namespace).Update(ctx, r, metav1.UpdateOptions{})
+		return err
+	}
+
 	err = roCtx.reconcile()
 	if roCtx.newRollout != nil {
 		c.writeBackToInformer(roCtx.newRollout)