diff --git a/jenkins/scripts/merge_tags.sh b/jenkins/scripts/merge_tags.sh
index bbbafef667..0c9f2485df 100755
--- a/jenkins/scripts/merge_tags.sh
+++ b/jenkins/scripts/merge_tags.sh
@@ -14,16 +14,16 @@
 
 TAG=$1
 
-# Avoid acting on any tag which is not strictly an all-numeric/stops string
-# since the logic below relies on a simple numeric sort. Ordering of
-# non-numeric strings are locale-specific, and situations like PEP-440 violate
-# assumptions about non-numeric versions being alpha-sorted anyway. This check
-# is redundant since we should never allow a tag containing non-numeric version
-# components through the filter for the release pipeline in Zuul, but is here
-# as a safeguard to validate that expectation since "Git tags are forever."
-if ! echo $TAG|grep '^[0-9\.]*$'; then
-    echo "ERROR: Triggered on non-release $TAG tag."
-    exit 1
+# Only merge release tag if it's on a stable branch
+if ! $(git branch -r --contains "$TAG" | grep "stable/" >/dev/null); then
+    echo "Tag $TAG was not pushed to a stable branch, ignoring."
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+# Make sure the tag does not correspond to a patch release
+if ! echo $TAG|grep '^[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\(\.0\|\)$'; then
+    echo "Triggered on patch release $TAG tag, ignoring."
+    exit 0
 fi
 
 git config user.name "OpenStack Proposal Bot"
@@ -37,15 +37,9 @@ git reset --hard origin/master
 MASTER_MINOR=`git describe|cut -d. -f-2`
 TAG_MINOR=`echo $TAG|cut -d. -f-2`
 
-# If the tag is for a patch version where its minor matches master's, skip
-if [ "$MASTER_MINOR" = "$TAG_MINOR" ]; then
-    echo "Skipping $TAG which shares master's $MASTER_MINOR version."
-    exit 0
-fi
-
 # If the tag is for an earlier version than master's, skip
 if [ "$(echo $(echo -e "$MASTER_MINOR\n$TAG_MINOR"|sort -V))" \
-    = "$TAG_MINOR $MASTER_MINOR" ]; then
+    \!= "$MASTER_MINOR $TAG_MINOR" ]; then
     echo "Skipping $TAG which sorts before master's $MASTER_MINOR version."
     exit 0
 fi