diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/addresses_integration_test.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/addresses_integration_test.go
index 1420e0f6..e2143496 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/addresses_integration_test.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/addresses_integration_test.go
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ func TestTheRegistryTrustAndEveryImageFollowThePortTheNodeGaveTheStore(t *testin
 
 func TestTheControlPlaneIsToldWhereTheNodePutTheStoreAndTheBroker(t *testing.T) {
 	open := aMesh(t)
+	// Issue 1126: the placement export over this fresh mesh, before anything below changes it.
+	placementExportIsEachNodesPlacementFromTheStore(t, open)
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	raw, err := os.ReadFile("../../module.json")
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/placement_export_integration_test.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/placement_export_integration_test.go
index 197e1d0b..35eb57e0 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/placement_export_integration_test.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/placement_export_integration_test.go
@@ -16,9 +16,10 @@ import (
 // answers, from the real store, each node's placement as the catalogue's placement file says it: what a person decided
 // of the node (its endpoint, site, hub and address on the private network) and its modules in the order the composition
 // reads them, exactly frombus.Export of the input this controller composes from; one node when named; a node the store
-// lacks is refused.
-func TestThePlacementExportIsEachNodesPlacementFromTheStore(t *testing.T) {
-	open := aMesh(t)
+// lacks is refused. Checked within TestTheControlPlaneIsToldWhereTheNodePutTheStoreAndTheBroker, over the same fresh
+// mesh, so the export adds no integration test of its own (the test budget).
+func placementExportIsEachNodesPlacementFromTheStore(t *testing.T, open *stores) {
+	t.Helper()
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	in, _, err := readMeshAndNodes(ctx, open)
 	if err != nil {