diff --git a/runnel/src/main/java/org/terracotta/runnel/metadata/Metadata.java b/runnel/src/main/java/org/terracotta/runnel/metadata/Metadata.java
index 81a2c653e2..1f166ef524 100644
--- a/runnel/src/main/java/org/terracotta/runnel/metadata/Metadata.java
+++ b/runnel/src/main/java/org/terracotta/runnel/metadata/Metadata.java
@@ -27,19 +27,12 @@
  */
 public class Metadata {
 
-  private final List<? extends Field> metadata;
-  private Map<String, Field> fieldsByName;
+  private final Map<String, Field> fieldsByName;
 
   public Metadata(List<? extends Field> metadata) {
-    this.metadata = metadata;
-  }
-
-  private void initFields(List<? extends Field> metadata) {
-    if (fieldsByName == null) {
-      fieldsByName = new HashMap<String, Field>(metadata.size(), 1.0F);
-      for (Field field : metadata) {
-        fieldsByName.put(field.name(), field);
-      }
+    fieldsByName = new HashMap<String, Field>();
+    for (Field field : metadata) {
+      fieldsByName.put(field.name(), field);
     }
   }
 
@@ -52,7 +45,6 @@ public FieldDecoder fieldDecoder(ReadBuffer readBuffer) {
   }
 
   public Map<Integer, Field> buildFieldsByIndexMap() {
-    initFields(metadata);
     Map<Integer, Field> map = new HashMap<Integer, Field>();
     for (Field field : fieldsByName.values()) {
       map.put(field.index(), field);
@@ -61,7 +53,6 @@ public Map<Integer, Field> buildFieldsByIndexMap() {
   }
 
   Field getFieldByName(String name) {
-    initFields(metadata);
     return fieldsByName.get(name);
   }
 
diff --git a/runnel/src/test/java/org/terracotta/runnel/StructBuilderTest.java b/runnel/src/test/java/org/terracotta/runnel/StructBuilderTest.java
index b971288c17..96c0120426 100644
--- a/runnel/src/test/java/org/terracotta/runnel/StructBuilderTest.java
+++ b/runnel/src/test/java/org/terracotta/runnel/StructBuilderTest.java
@@ -131,20 +131,4 @@ public void checkValidConfigWorks() throws Exception {
     StructBuilder.newStructBuilder().enm("a", 2, ENM).enm("b", 3, ENM);
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Check that when calling StructBuilder.build(), then modifying the builder again then
-   * building a second struct, we do end up with two identical structs.
-   *
-   * Ugly, but that's the quick way to solve the struct loop struct1 -> struct2 -> struct1 problem.
-   */
-  @Test
-  public void checkLazyStructAliasesWork() throws Exception {
-    StructBuilder structBuilder = StructBuilder.newStructBuilder();
-
-    Struct lazilyInitializedStruct = structBuilder.build();
-    Struct struct = structBuilder.int32("a", 2).int32("b", 3).build();
-
-    lazilyInitializedStruct.encoder().int32("a", 1).int32("b", -1).encode();
-    struct.encoder().int32("a", 1).int32("b", -1).encode();
-  }
 }