diff --git a/test-playbooks/ensure-kubernetes/crio.yaml b/test-playbooks/ensure-kubernetes/crio.yaml
index a5ebfe39e..ab2ec4a2b 100644
--- a/test-playbooks/ensure-kubernetes/crio.yaml
+++ b/test-playbooks/ensure-kubernetes/crio.yaml
@@ -13,6 +13,15 @@
       become: yes
       failed_when: false
 
+    # The default account is known to take a while to appear; see
+    #  https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/66689
+    - name: Ensure default account created
+      command: kubectl -n default get serviceaccount default -o name
+      retries: 5
+      delay: 5
+      register: result
+      until: result.rc == 0
+
     - name: Create a test pod definition
       copy:
         dest: test-pod.yaml