diff --git a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/http-url-connection/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/http_url_connection/HttpUrlConnectionInstrumentation.java b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/http-url-connection/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/http_url_connection/HttpUrlConnectionInstrumentation.java
index d703ba033f..2e473474b8 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/http-url-connection/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/http_url_connection/HttpUrlConnectionInstrumentation.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/http-url-connection/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/http_url_connection/HttpUrlConnectionInstrumentation.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import datadog.trace.agent.tooling.Instrumenter;
 import datadog.trace.bootstrap.CallDepthThreadLocalMap;
 import datadog.trace.bootstrap.ContextStore;
 import datadog.trace.bootstrap.InstrumentationContext;
+import io.opentracing.Scope;
 import io.opentracing.Span;
 import io.opentracing.Tracer;
 import io.opentracing.propagation.Format;
@@ -178,9 +179,11 @@ public class HttpUrlConnectionInstrumentation extends Instrumenter.Default {
     public Span startSpan(final HttpURLConnection connection) {
       final Tracer.SpanBuilder builder = GlobalTracer.get().buildSpan(OPERATION_NAME);
       span = builder.start();
-      DECORATE.afterStart(span);
-      DECORATE.onRequest(span, connection);
-      return span;
+      try (final Scope scope = GlobalTracer.get().scopeManager().activate(span, false)) {
+        DECORATE.afterStart(span);
+        DECORATE.onRequest(span, connection);
+        return span;
+      }
     }
 
     public boolean hasSpan() {
@@ -196,11 +199,12 @@ public class HttpUrlConnectionInstrumentation extends Instrumenter.Default {
     }
 
     public void finishSpan(final Throwable throwable) {
-      DECORATE.onError(span, throwable);
-      DECORATE.beforeFinish(span);
-      span.finish();
-      span = null;
-      finished = true;
+      try (final Scope scope = GlobalTracer.get().scopeManager().activate(span, true)) {
+        DECORATE.onError(span, throwable);
+        DECORATE.beforeFinish(span);
+        span = null;
+        finished = true;
+      }
     }
 
     public void finishSpan(final int responseCode) {
@@ -210,11 +214,12 @@ public class HttpUrlConnectionInstrumentation extends Instrumenter.Default {
        * (e.g. breaks getOutputStream).
        */
       if (responseCode > 0) {
-        DECORATE.onResponse(span, responseCode);
-        DECORATE.beforeFinish(span);
-        span.finish();
-        span = null;
-        finished = true;
+        try (final Scope scope = GlobalTracer.get().scopeManager().activate(span, true)) {
+          DECORATE.onResponse(span, responseCode);
+          DECORATE.beforeFinish(span);
+          span = null;
+          finished = true;
+        }
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/http-url-connection/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/http_url_connection/UrlInstrumentation.java b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/http-url-connection/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/http_url_connection/UrlInstrumentation.java
index 12b7b34e1f..0179540e27 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/http-url-connection/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/http_url_connection/UrlInstrumentation.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/http-url-connection/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/http_url_connection/UrlInstrumentation.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import datadog.trace.agent.tooling.Instrumenter;
 import datadog.trace.api.Config;
 import datadog.trace.api.DDSpanTypes;
 import datadog.trace.api.DDTags;
+import io.opentracing.Scope;
 import io.opentracing.Span;
 import io.opentracing.tag.Tags;
 import io.opentracing.util.GlobalTracer;
@@ -65,17 +66,17 @@ public class UrlInstrumentation extends Instrumenter.Default {
                 .withTag(DDTags.SPAN_TYPE, DDSpanTypes.HTTP_CLIENT)
                 .withTag(Tags.COMPONENT.getKey(), COMPONENT)
                 .start();
+        try (final Scope scope = GlobalTracer.get().scopeManager().activate(span, true)) {
+          Tags.HTTP_URL.set(span, url.toString());
+          Tags.PEER_PORT.set(span, url.getPort() == -1 ? 80 : url.getPort());
+          Tags.PEER_HOSTNAME.set(span, url.getHost());
+          if (Config.get().isHttpClientSplitByDomain()) {
+            span.setTag(DDTags.SERVICE_NAME, url.getHost());
+          }
 
-        Tags.HTTP_URL.set(span, url.toString());
-        Tags.PEER_PORT.set(span, url.getPort() == -1 ? 80 : url.getPort());
-        Tags.PEER_HOSTNAME.set(span, url.getHost());
-        if (Config.get().isHttpClientSplitByDomain()) {
-          span.setTag(DDTags.SERVICE_NAME, url.getHost());
+          Tags.ERROR.set(span, true);
+          span.log(Collections.singletonMap(ERROR_OBJECT, throwable));
         }
-
-        Tags.ERROR.set(span, true);
-        span.log(Collections.singletonMap(ERROR_OBJECT, throwable));
-        span.finish();
       }
     }
   }