diff --git a/Makefile.fifteen b/Makefile.fifteen
index 33fa715ad4..a5b5a6c9a5 100644
--- a/Makefile.fifteen
+++ b/Makefile.fifteen
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ALLOWED_CRDS := "ComputeAddress,ComputeForwardingRule,ComputeServiceAttachment,RunService,CloudSchedulerJob,IAMServiceAccount,IAMPolicyMember,IAMPartialPolicy,ComputeRegionNetworkEndpointGroup,ComputeBackendService,ComputeURLMap,ComputeTargetHTTPProxy,DNSRecordSet,PubSubTopic,EventarcTrigger"
-OPERATOR_TAG := 1.0.0
+OPERATOR_TAG := 2.0.0
 IMAGE := eu.gcr.io/birota-cloud/cnrm-operator:${OPERATOR_TAG}
 
 fix-crds:
diff --git a/operator/channels/packages/configconnector/1.121.0/cluster/gcp-identity/0-cnrm-system.yaml b/operator/channels/packages/configconnector/1.121.0/cluster/gcp-identity/0-cnrm-system.yaml
index f4364ccc91..6ef77e1931 100644
--- a/operator/channels/packages/configconnector/1.121.0/cluster/gcp-identity/0-cnrm-system.yaml
+++ b/operator/channels/packages/configconnector/1.121.0/cluster/gcp-identity/0-cnrm-system.yaml
@@ -2525,6 +2525,8 @@ spec:
         cnrm.cloud.google.com/component: cnrm-resource-stats-recorder
         cnrm.cloud.google.com/system: "true"
     spec:
+      nodeSelector:
+        pool: default
       containers:
       - args:
         - --prometheus-scrape-endpoint=:48797
@@ -2588,6 +2590,8 @@ spec:
         cnrm.cloud.google.com/component: cnrm-webhook-manager
         cnrm.cloud.google.com/system: "true"
     spec:
+      nodeSelector:
+        pool: default
       containers:
       - command:
         - /configconnector/webhook
@@ -2652,6 +2656,8 @@ spec:
         cnrm.cloud.google.com/component: cnrm-controller-manager
         cnrm.cloud.google.com/system: "true"
     spec:
+      nodeSelector:
+        pool: default
       containers:
       - args:
         - --prometheus-scrape-endpoint=:8888
@@ -2710,6 +2716,8 @@ spec:
         cnrm.cloud.google.com/component: cnrm-deletiondefender
         cnrm.cloud.google.com/system: "true"
     spec:
+      nodeSelector:
+        pool: default
       containers:
       - command:
         - /configconnector/deletiondefender
diff --git a/operator/pkg/controllers/configconnector/configconnector_controller.go b/operator/pkg/controllers/configconnector/configconnector_controller.go
index f6879459b0..71208f06f4 100644
--- a/operator/pkg/controllers/configconnector/configconnector_controller.go
+++ b/operator/pkg/controllers/configconnector/configconnector_controller.go
@@ -426,9 +426,7 @@ func setVaultWatcherContainer(object *manifest.Object) (*manifest.Object, error)
 		"pool": "default",
 	}
 
-	if err := unstructured.SetNestedMap(u.Object, templateSpec, "spec", "template", "spec"); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error setting the template spec for StatefulSet %v: %v", u.GetName(), err)
-	}
+	u.Object["spec"].(map[string]interface{})["template"].(map[string]interface{})["spec"] = templateSpec
 
 	return manifest.NewObject(u)
 }