diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestRowCounter.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestRowCounter.java
index 1bd2437bae8..fe2e1976001 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestRowCounter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestRowCounter.java
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Put;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Table;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.LauncherSecurityManager;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.Counter;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.Job;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.ToolRunner;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
@@ -203,9 +205,11 @@ public class TestRowCounter {
    * @throws Exception
    */
   private void runRowCount(String[] args, int expectedCount) throws Exception {
-    final RowCounter counter = new RowCounter();
-    assertEquals("job failed either due to failure or miscount (see log output).", 0,
-        ToolRunner.run(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration(), counter, args));
+    Job job = RowCounter.createSubmittableJob(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration(), args);
+    job.waitForCompletion(true);
+    assertTrue(job.isSuccessful());
+    Counter counter = job.getCounters().findCounter(RowCounter.RowCounterMapper.Counters.ROWS);
+    assertEquals(expectedCount, counter.getValue());
   }
 
   /**