diff --git a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/play-ws/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/playws/BasePlayWSClientInstrumentation.java b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/play-ws/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/playws/BasePlayWSClientInstrumentation.java
index 9ec2142581..9695a3d92c 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/play-ws/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/playws/BasePlayWSClientInstrumentation.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/play-ws/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/playws/BasePlayWSClientInstrumentation.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package datadog.trace.instrumentation.playws;
 
+import static datadog.trace.agent.tooling.ClassLoaderMatcher.classLoaderHasNoResources;
 import static datadog.trace.agent.tooling.bytebuddy.matcher.DDElementMatchers.hasInterface;
 import static java.util.Collections.singletonMap;
 import static net.bytebuddy.matcher.ElementMatchers.isMethod;
@@ -20,6 +21,13 @@ public abstract class BasePlayWSClientInstrumentation extends Instrumenter.Defau
     super("play-ws");
   }
 
+  @Override
+  public ElementMatcher<ClassLoader> classLoaderMatcher() {
+    // Optimization for expensive typeMatcher.
+    return not(
+        classLoaderHasNoResources("play/shaded/ahc/org/asynchttpclient/AsyncHttpClient.class"));
+  }
+
   @Override
   public ElementMatcher<? super TypeDescription> typeMatcher() {
     // CachingAsyncHttpClient rejects overrides to AsyncHandler