diff --git a/aiokafka/client.py b/aiokafka/client.py
index 4eea5259..8c796147 100644
--- a/aiokafka/client.py
+++ b/aiokafka/client.py
@@ -475,6 +475,7 @@ async def _get_conn(self, node_id, *, group=ConnectionGroup.DEFAULT, no_hint=Fal
             if group == ConnectionGroup.DEFAULT:
                 # Connection failures imply that our metadata is stale, so
                 # let's refresh
+                await asyncio.sleep(self._retry_backoff)
                 self.force_metadata_update()
             return None
         else: