diff --git a/deploy-20-pods.yaml b/deploy-20-pods.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f02e08e3f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy-20-pods.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: deploy-20-pods
+spec:
+  replicas: 20
+  selector:
+      matchLabels:
+        app: deploy-20-pods
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      name: test-pod-20
+      labels:
+        app: deploy-20-pods
+        tier: backend
+        track: stable
+    spec:
+      containers:
+        - name: hello
+          image: "gcr.io/google-samples/hello-go-gke:1.0"
+          ports:
+            - name: http
+              containerPort: 80
+      nodeSelector:
+        nodetomatch: thisone
diff --git a/scripts/run-integration-tests.sh b/scripts/run-integration-tests.sh
index 5bc65c8424..325caf9e23 100755
--- a/scripts/run-integration-tests.sh
+++ b/scripts/run-integration-tests.sh
@@ -146,6 +146,18 @@ if [[ "$PROVISION" == true ]]; then
     __cluster_created=1
 fi
 
+echo "TESTING trying to create nodegroup"
+$TESTER_PATH eks create-nodegroup --cluster_name $CLUSTER_NAME --name single-node --instance_types m5.xlarge --scaling-config minSize=1,maxSize=1,desiredSize=1
+
+echo "TESTING downloading eksctl"
+curl --silent --location "https://github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/releases/latest/download/eksctl_$(uname -s)_amd64.tar.gz" | tar xz -C /tmp
+sudo mv -v /tmp/eksctl /usr/local/bin
+
+echo "TESTING tring to put 20 pods on new nodegroup"
+eksctl apply -f deploy-20-pods.yaml
+sleep 60
+eksctl get pods
+
 echo "Using $BASE_CONFIG_PATH as a template"
 cp "$BASE_CONFIG_PATH" "$TEST_CONFIG_PATH"