diff --git a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/ReplicaShardAllocatorIT.java b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/ReplicaShardAllocatorIT.java
index 2dac552cfdc51..8156ffbd70cc1 100644
--- a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/ReplicaShardAllocatorIT.java
+++ b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/ReplicaShardAllocatorIT.java
@@ -263,8 +263,10 @@ public void testPreferCopyWithHighestMatchingOperations() throws Exception {
         String nodeWithHigherMatching = randomFrom(internalCluster().nodesInclude(indexName));
         Settings nodeWithHigherMatchingSettings = internalCluster().dataPathSettings(nodeWithHigherMatching);
         internalCluster().stopRandomNode(InternalTestCluster.nameFilter(nodeWithHigherMatching));
-        indexRandom(randomBoolean(), false, randomBoolean(), IntStream.range(0, between(0, 100))
+        if (usually()) {
+            indexRandom(randomBoolean(), false, randomBoolean(), IntStream.range(0, between(1, 100))
             .mapToObj(n -> client().prepareIndex(indexName, "_doc").setSource("f", "v")).collect(Collectors.toList()));
+        }
 
         assertAcked(client().admin().cluster().prepareUpdateSettings()
             .setPersistentSettings(Settings.builder().put("cluster.routing.allocation.enable", "primaries").build()));
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchAssertions.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchAssertions.java
index 1845e54a928e6..37d37677903ba 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchAssertions.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchAssertions.java
@@ -330,7 +330,15 @@ public static void assertFailures(SearchRequestBuilder searchRequestBuilder, Res
     }
 
     public static void assertNoFailures(BroadcastResponse response) {
-        assertThat("Unexpected ShardFailures: " + Arrays.toString(response.getShardFailures()), response.getFailedShards(), equalTo(0));
+        if (response.getFailedShards() != 0) {
+            final AssertionError assertionError = new AssertionError("[" + response.getFailedShards() + "] shard failures");
+
+            for (DefaultShardOperationFailedException shardFailure : response.getShardFailures()) {
+                assertionError.addSuppressed(new ElasticsearchException(shardFailure.toString(), shardFailure.getCause()));
+            }
+
+            throw assertionError;
+        }
     }
 
     public static void assertAllSuccessful(BroadcastResponse response) {