diff --git a/packages/core/test/acceptance/template_ref_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/acceptance/template_ref_spec.ts
index 981cc43bac..7184479bad 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/acceptance/template_ref_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/acceptance/template_ref_spec.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import {Component, TemplateRef, ViewChild, ViewContainerRef} from '@angular/core';
 import {TestBed} from '@angular/core/testing';
 import {expect} from '@angular/platform-browser/testing/src/matchers';
+import {onlyInIvy} from '@angular/private/testing';
 
 describe('TemplateRef', () => {
   describe('rootNodes', () => {
@@ -52,6 +53,117 @@ describe('TemplateRef', () => {
 
       expect(rootNodeTextContent).toEqual(['Header', 'Item one', 'Item two']);
     });
-  });
 
+    it('should return root render nodes for an embedded view instance', () => {
+      @Component({
+        template: `
+          <ng-template #templateRef>
+            <div></div>
+            some text
+            <span></span>
+          </ng-template>
+        `
+      })
+      class App {
+        @ViewChild('templateRef')
+        templateRef !: TemplateRef<any>;
+      }
+
+      TestBed.configureTestingModule({
+        declarations: [App],
+      });
+      const fixture = TestBed.createComponent(App);
+      fixture.detectChanges();
+
+      const embeddedView = fixture.componentInstance.templateRef.createEmbeddedView({});
+      expect(embeddedView.rootNodes.length).toBe(3);
+    });
+
+    /**
+     * This is different as compared to the view engine implementation which returns a comment node
+     * in this case:
+     * https://stackblitz.com/edit/angular-uiqry6?file=src/app/app.component.ts
+     *
+     * Returning a comment node for a template ref with no nodes is wrong is fixed in Ivy.
+     */
+    onlyInIvy('Fixed: Ivy no longer adds a comment node in this case.')
+        .it('should return an empty array for embedded view with no nodes', () => {
+          @Component({
+            template: `
+              <ng-template #templateRef></ng-template>
+            `
+          })
+          class App {
+            @ViewChild('templateRef')
+            templateRef !: TemplateRef<any>;
+          }
+
+          TestBed.configureTestingModule({
+            declarations: [App],
+          });
+          const fixture = TestBed.createComponent(App);
+          fixture.detectChanges();
+
+          const embeddedView = fixture.componentInstance.templateRef.createEmbeddedView({});
+          expect(embeddedView.rootNodes.length).toBe(0);
+        });
+
+    it('should not descend into containers when retrieving root nodes', () => {
+      /**
+       * NOTE: In VE, if `SUFFIX` text node below is _not_ present, VE will add an
+       * additional `<!---->` comment, thus being slightly different than Ivy.
+       * (resulting in 1 root node in Ivy and 2 in VE).
+       */
+      @Component({
+        template: `
+          <ng-template #templateRef><ng-template [ngIf]="true">text</ng-template>SUFFIX</ng-template>
+        `
+      })
+      class App {
+        @ViewChild('templateRef')
+        templateRef !: TemplateRef<any>;
+      }
+
+      TestBed.configureTestingModule({
+        declarations: [App],
+      });
+      const fixture = TestBed.createComponent(App);
+      fixture.detectChanges();
+
+      const embeddedView = fixture.componentInstance.templateRef.createEmbeddedView({});
+      expect(embeddedView.rootNodes.length).toBe(2);
+      expect(embeddedView.rootNodes[0].nodeType).toBe(Node.COMMENT_NODE);
+      expect(embeddedView.rootNodes[1].nodeType).toBe(Node.TEXT_NODE);
+    });
+
+    /**
+     * Contrary to containers (<ng-template>) we _do_ descend into element containers
+     * (<ng-container>)
+     */
+    it('should descend into element containers when retrieving root nodes', () => {
+      @Component({
+        template: `
+          <ng-template #templateRef>
+            <ng-container>text</ng-container>
+          </ng-template>
+        `
+      })
+      class App {
+        @ViewChild('templateRef')
+        templateRef !: TemplateRef<any>;
+      }
+
+      TestBed.configureTestingModule({
+        declarations: [App],
+      });
+      const fixture = TestBed.createComponent(App);
+      fixture.detectChanges();
+
+      const embeddedView = fixture.componentInstance.templateRef.createEmbeddedView({});
+
+      expect(embeddedView.rootNodes.length).toBe(2);
+      expect(embeddedView.rootNodes[0].nodeType).toBe(Node.COMMENT_NODE);
+      expect(embeddedView.rootNodes[1].nodeType).toBe(Node.TEXT_NODE);
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/core/test/render3/template_ref_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/render3/template_ref_spec.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index d5059f366e..0000000000
--- a/packages/core/test/render3/template_ref_spec.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,178 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * @license
- * Copyright Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
- *
- * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
- * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
- */
-
-import {TemplateRef} from '@angular/core';
-
-import {AttributeMarker, RenderFlags, ΔdefineDirective} from '../../src/render3/index';
-import {Δbind, ΔdirectiveInject, Δelement, ΔelementContainerEnd, ΔelementContainerStart, ΔelementProperty, Δtemplate, Δtext} from '../../src/render3/instructions/all';
-
-import {NgIf} from './common_with_def';
-import {ComponentFixture, createComponent, getDirectiveOnNode} from './render_util';
-
-describe('TemplateRef', () => {
-
-  describe('rootNodes', () => {
-
-    class DirectiveWithTplRef {
-      static ngDirectiveDef = ΔdefineDirective({
-        type: DirectiveWithTplRef,
-        selectors: [['', 'tplRef', '']],
-        factory: () => new DirectiveWithTplRef(ΔdirectiveInject(TemplateRef as any))
-      });
-
-      // injecting a ViewContainerRef to create a dynamic container in which embedded views will be
-      // created
-      constructor(public tplRef: TemplateRef<{}>) {}
-    }
-
-    it('should return root render nodes for an embedded view instance', () => {
-      let directiveWithTplRef: DirectiveWithTplRef;
-
-      function embeddedTemplate(rf: RenderFlags, ctx: any) {
-        if (rf & RenderFlags.Create) {
-          Δelement(0, 'div');
-          Δtext(1, 'some text');
-          Δelement(2, 'span');
-        }
-      }
-
-      /*
-          <ng-template tplRef>
-              <div></div>
-              some text
-              <span></span>
-          </ng-template>
-       */
-      const AppComponent = createComponent('app-cmp', function(rf: RenderFlags, ctx: any) {
-        if (rf & RenderFlags.Create) {
-          Δtemplate(0, embeddedTemplate, 3, 0, 'ng-template', ['tplRef', '']);
-          directiveWithTplRef = getDirectiveOnNode(0, 0);
-        }
-      }, 1, 0, [DirectiveWithTplRef]);
-
-
-      const fixture = new ComponentFixture(AppComponent);
-      expect(directiveWithTplRef !).toBeDefined();
-
-      const viewRef = directiveWithTplRef !.tplRef.createEmbeddedView({});
-      expect(viewRef.rootNodes.length).toBe(3);
-    });
-
-    /**
-     * This is different as compared to the view engine implementation which returns a comment node
-     * in this case:
-     * https://stackblitz.com/edit/angular-uiqry6?file=src/app/app.component.ts
-     *
-     * Returning a comment node for a template ref with no nodes is wrong and should be fixed in
-     * ivy.
-     */
-    it('should return an empty array for embedded view with no nodes', () => {
-      let directiveWithTplRef: DirectiveWithTplRef;
-
-      /*
-          <ng-template tplRef></ng-template>
-       */
-      const AppComponent = createComponent('app-cmp', function(rf: RenderFlags, ctx: any) {
-        if (rf & RenderFlags.Create) {
-          Δtemplate(0, () => {}, 0, 0, 'ng-template', ['tplRef', '']);
-          directiveWithTplRef = getDirectiveOnNode(0, 0);
-        }
-      }, 1, 0, [DirectiveWithTplRef]);
-
-
-      const fixture = new ComponentFixture(AppComponent);
-      expect(directiveWithTplRef !).toBeDefined();
-
-      const viewRef = directiveWithTplRef !.tplRef.createEmbeddedView({});
-      expect(viewRef.rootNodes.length).toBe(0);
-    });
-
-    /**
-     * This is somehow surprising but the current view engine don't descend into containers when
-     * getting root nodes of an embedded view:
-     * https://stackblitz.com/edit/angular-z8zev7?file=src/app/app.component.ts
-     */
-    it('should not descend into containers when retrieving root nodes', () => {
-      let directiveWithTplRef: DirectiveWithTplRef;
-
-      function ngIfTemplate(rf: RenderFlags, ctx: any) {
-        if (rf & RenderFlags.Create) {
-          Δtext(0, 'text');
-        }
-      }
-
-      function embeddedTemplate(rf: RenderFlags, ctx: any) {
-        if (rf & RenderFlags.Create) {
-          Δtemplate(0, ngIfTemplate, 1, 0, 'ng-template', [AttributeMarker.Bindings, 'ngIf']);
-        }
-        if (rf & RenderFlags.Update) {
-          ΔelementProperty(0, 'ngIf', Δbind(ctx.showing));
-        }
-      }
-
-      /*
-          <ng-template tplRef><ng-template [ngIf]="true">text</ng-template></ng-template>
-       */
-      const AppComponent = createComponent('app-cmp', function(rf: RenderFlags, ctx: any) {
-        if (rf & RenderFlags.Create) {
-          Δtemplate(0, embeddedTemplate, 1, 1, 'ng-template', ['tplRef', '']);
-          directiveWithTplRef = getDirectiveOnNode(0, 0);
-        }
-      }, 1, 0, [DirectiveWithTplRef, NgIf]);
-
-
-      const fixture = new ComponentFixture(AppComponent);
-      expect(directiveWithTplRef !).toBeDefined();
-
-      const viewRef = directiveWithTplRef !.tplRef.createEmbeddedView({});
-
-      // assert that we've got a comment node (only!) corresponding to <ng-template [ngIf]="true">
-      expect(viewRef.rootNodes.length).toBe(1);
-      expect(viewRef.rootNodes[0].nodeType).toBe(8);
-    });
-
-
-    /**
-     * Contrary to containers (<ng-template>) we _do_ descend into element containers
-     * (<ng-container):
-     * https://stackblitz.com/edit/angular-yovmmp?file=src/app/app.component.ts
-     */
-    it('should descend into element containers when retrieving root nodes', () => {
-      let directiveWithTplRef: DirectiveWithTplRef;
-
-      function embeddedTemplate(rf: RenderFlags, ctx: any) {
-        if (rf & RenderFlags.Create) {
-          ΔelementContainerStart(0);
-          { Δtext(1, 'text'); }
-          ΔelementContainerEnd();
-        }
-      }
-
-      /*
-          <ng-template tplRef><ng-container>text</ng-container></ng-template>
-       */
-      const AppComponent = createComponent('app-cmp', function(rf: RenderFlags, ctx: any) {
-        if (rf & RenderFlags.Create) {
-          Δtemplate(0, embeddedTemplate, 2, 0, 'ng-template', ['tplRef', '']);
-          directiveWithTplRef = getDirectiveOnNode(0, 0);
-        }
-      }, 1, 0, [DirectiveWithTplRef]);
-
-
-      const fixture = new ComponentFixture(AppComponent);
-      expect(directiveWithTplRef !).toBeDefined();
-
-      const viewRef = directiveWithTplRef !.tplRef.createEmbeddedView({});
-
-      expect(viewRef.rootNodes.length).toBe(2);
-      expect(viewRef.rootNodes[0].nodeType)
-          .toBe(8);  // a comment node (only!) corresponding to <ng-container>
-      expect(viewRef.rootNodes[1].nodeType).toBe(3);  // a text node
-    });
-  });
-});