diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/TestReplicationSyncUpTool.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/TestReplicationSyncUpTool.java
index e17a1ba4529..e11589112d3 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/TestReplicationSyncUpTool.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/TestReplicationSyncUpTool.java
@@ -22,8 +22,6 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
-import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.*;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Delete;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.HBaseAdmin;
@@ -39,8 +37,6 @@ import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 @Category(LargeTests.class)
 public class TestReplicationSyncUpTool extends TestReplicationBase {
 
-  private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(TestReplicationSyncUpTool.class);
-
   private static final byte[] t1_su = Bytes.toBytes("t1_syncup");
   private static final byte[] t2_su = Bytes.toBytes("t2_syncup");
 
@@ -53,8 +49,6 @@ public class TestReplicationSyncUpTool extends TestReplicationBase {
   private HTableDescriptor t2_syncupSource, t2_syncupTarget;
 
   private HTable ht1Source, ht2Source, ht1TargetAtPeer1, ht2TargetAtPeer1;
-  private int rowCount_ht1Source, rowCount_ht2Source, rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1,
-      rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1;
 
   @Before
   public void setUp() throws Exception {
@@ -234,17 +228,31 @@ public class TestReplicationSyncUpTool extends TestReplicationBase {
 
     // ensure replication completed
     Thread.sleep(SLEEP_TIME);
+    int rowCount_ht1Source = utility1.countRows(ht1Source);
+    for (int i = 0; i < NB_RETRIES; i++) {
+      int rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht1TargetAtPeer1);
+      if (i==NB_RETRIES-1) {
+        assertEquals("t1_syncup has 101 rows on source, and 100 on slave1", rowCount_ht1Source - 1,
+            rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1);
+      }
+      if (rowCount_ht1Source - 1 == rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1) {
+        break;
+      }
+      Thread.sleep(SLEEP_TIME);
+    }
 
-    rowCount_ht1Source = utility1.countRows(ht1Source);
-    rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht1TargetAtPeer1);
-    assertEquals("t1_syncup has 101 rows on source, and 100 on slave1", rowCount_ht1Source - 1,
-      rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1);
-
-    rowCount_ht2Source = utility1.countRows(ht2Source);
-    rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht2TargetAtPeer1);
-    assertEquals("t2_syncup has 201 rows on source, and 200 on slave1", rowCount_ht2Source - 1,
-      rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1);
-
+    int rowCount_ht2Source = utility1.countRows(ht2Source);
+    for (int i = 0; i < NB_RETRIES; i++) {
+      int rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht2TargetAtPeer1);
+      if (i==NB_RETRIES-1) {
+        assertEquals("t2_syncup has 201 rows on source, and 200 on slave1", rowCount_ht2Source - 1,
+            rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1);
+      }
+      if (rowCount_ht2Source - 1 == rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1) {
+        break;
+      }
+      Thread.sleep(SLEEP_TIME);
+    }
   }
 
   private void mimicSyncUpAfterDelete() throws Exception {
@@ -266,11 +274,11 @@ public class TestReplicationSyncUpTool extends TestReplicationBase {
     }
     ht2Source.delete(list);
 
-    rowCount_ht1Source = utility1.countRows(ht1Source);
+    int rowCount_ht1Source = utility1.countRows(ht1Source);
     assertEquals("t1_syncup has 51 rows on source, after remove 50 of the replicated colfam", 51,
       rowCount_ht1Source);
 
-    rowCount_ht2Source = utility1.countRows(ht2Source);
+    int rowCount_ht2Source = utility1.countRows(ht2Source);
     assertEquals("t2_syncup has 101 rows on source, after remove 100 of the replicated colfam",
       101, rowCount_ht2Source);
 
@@ -280,8 +288,8 @@ public class TestReplicationSyncUpTool extends TestReplicationBase {
     Thread.sleep(SLEEP_TIME);
 
     // before sync up
-    rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht1TargetAtPeer1);
-    rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht2TargetAtPeer1);
+    int rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht1TargetAtPeer1);
+    int rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht2TargetAtPeer1);
     assertEquals("@Peer1 t1_syncup should still have 100 rows", 100, rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1);
     assertEquals("@Peer1 t2_syncup should still have 200 rows", 200, rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1);
 
@@ -323,9 +331,9 @@ public class TestReplicationSyncUpTool extends TestReplicationBase {
     p.add(noRepfamName, qualName, Bytes.toBytes("val" + 9998));
     ht2Source.put(p);
 
-    rowCount_ht1Source = utility1.countRows(ht1Source);
+    int rowCount_ht1Source = utility1.countRows(ht1Source);
     assertEquals("t1_syncup has 102 rows on source", 102, rowCount_ht1Source);
-    rowCount_ht2Source = utility1.countRows(ht2Source);
+    int rowCount_ht2Source = utility1.countRows(ht2Source);
     assertEquals("t2_syncup has 202 rows on source", 202, rowCount_ht2Source);
 
     utility1.shutdownMiniHBaseCluster();
@@ -334,8 +342,8 @@ public class TestReplicationSyncUpTool extends TestReplicationBase {
     Thread.sleep(SLEEP_TIME);
 
     // before sync up
-    rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht1TargetAtPeer1);
-    rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht2TargetAtPeer1);
+    int rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht1TargetAtPeer1);
+    int rowCount_ht2TargetAtPeer1 = utility2.countRows(ht2TargetAtPeer1);
     assertEquals("@Peer1 t1_syncup should be NOT sync up and have 50 rows", 50,
       rowCount_ht1TargetAtPeer1);
     assertEquals("@Peer1 t2_syncup should be NOT sync up and have 100 rows", 100,