diff --git a/mongoengine/connection.py b/mongoengine/connection.py
index 0aa040ed..897dcc2a 100644
--- a/mongoengine/connection.py
+++ b/mongoengine/connection.py
@@ -115,6 +115,8 @@ def get_connection(alias=DEFAULT_CONNECTION_NAME, reconnect=False):
             # Discard replicaSet if not base string
             if not isinstance(conn_settings['replicaSet'], basestring):
                 conn_settings.pop('replicaSet', None)
+            if pymongo.version_tuple[0] < 3:
+                connection_class = MongoReplicaSetClient
 
         try:
             connection = None
@@ -127,8 +129,6 @@ def get_connection(alias=DEFAULT_CONNECTION_NAME, reconnect=False):
                 if conn_settings == connection_settings and _connections.get(db_alias, None):
                     connection = _connections[db_alias]
                     break
-                if pymongo.version_tuple[0] < 3:
-                    connection_class = MongoReplicaSetClient
 
             _connections[alias] = connection if connection else connection_class(**conn_settings)
         except Exception, e: