diff --git a/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/controller.go b/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/controller.go
index 0107e2ef1e47d..66118feb2489c 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/controller.go
@@ -278,8 +278,11 @@ func (r *ReconcileCephNFS) reconcile(request reconcile.Request) (reconcile.Resul
 	if err := validateGanesha(r.context, r.clusterInfo, cephNFS); err != nil {
 		return reconcile.Result{}, errors.Wrapf(err, "invalid ceph nfs %q arguments", cephNFS.Name)
 	}
-	if err := r.fetchOrCreatePool(cephNFS); err != nil {
-		return reconcile.Result{}, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to fetch or create RADOS pool")
+
+	// Always create the default pool
+	err = r.createDefaultNFSRADOSPool(cephNFS)
+	if err != nil {
+		return reconcile.Result{}, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to create default pool %q", cephNFS.Spec.RADOS.Pool)
 	}
 
 	// CREATE/UPDATE
diff --git a/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/controller_test.go b/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/controller_test.go
index 33c815157236a..a072a4e962f73 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/controller_test.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/controller_test.go
@@ -19,10 +19,11 @@ package nfs
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"errors"
 	"os"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+
 	"github.com/coreos/pkg/capnslog"
 	cephv1 "github.com/rook/rook/pkg/apis/ceph.rook.io/v1"
 	rookclient "github.com/rook/rook/pkg/client/clientset/versioned/fake"
@@ -202,10 +203,16 @@ func TestCephNFSController(t *testing.T) {
 				if args[0] == "auth" && args[1] == "get-or-create-key" {
 					return nfsCephAuthGetOrCreateKey, nil
 				}
-				if args[0] == "osd" && args[1] == "pool" && args[2] == "get" {
-					return poolDetails, nil
+				if args[0] == "osd" && args[1] == "pool" && args[2] == "create" {
+					return "", nil
+				}
+				if args[0] == "osd" && args[1] == "crush" && args[2] == "rule" {
+					return "", nil
+				}
+				if args[0] == "osd" && args[1] == "pool" && args[2] == "application" {
+					return "", nil
 				}
-				return "", errors.New("unknown command")
+				return "", errors.Errorf("unknown command %q %v", command, args)
 			},
 			MockExecuteCommand: func(command string, args ...string) error {
 				if command == "rados" {
diff --git a/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/nfs.go b/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/nfs.go
index 937895bd1f259..88fb364d88ea8 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/nfs.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/ceph/nfs/nfs.go
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ package nfs
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/banzaicloud/k8s-objectmatcher/patch"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
@@ -296,19 +295,3 @@ func (r *ReconcileCephNFS) createDefaultNFSRADOSPool(n *cephv1.CephNFS) error {
 
 	return nil
 }
-
-func (r *ReconcileCephNFS) fetchOrCreatePool(n *cephv1.CephNFS) error {
-	// The existence of the pool provided in n.Spec.RADOS.Pool is necessary otherwise addRADOSConfigFile() will fail
-	_, err := cephclient.GetPoolDetails(r.context, r.clusterInfo, n.Spec.RADOS.Pool)
-	if err != nil {
-		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unrecognized pool") && r.clusterInfo.CephVersion.IsAtLeastPacific() {
-			err := r.createDefaultNFSRADOSPool(n)
-			if err != nil {
-				return errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to find %q pool and unable to create it", n.Spec.RADOS.Pool)
-			}
-			return nil
-		}
-		return errors.Wrapf(err, "pool %q not found", n.Spec.RADOS.Pool)
-	}
-	return nil
-}