diff --git a/packages/kbn-test/src/failed_tests_reporter/README.md b/packages/kbn-test/src/failed_tests_reporter/README.md
index 20592ecd733b6..0473ae7357def 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-test/src/failed_tests_reporter/README.md
+++ b/packages/kbn-test/src/failed_tests_reporter/README.md
@@ -7,15 +7,15 @@ A little CLI that runs in CI to find the failed tests in the JUnit reports, then
 To fetch some JUnit reports from a recent build on CI, visit its `Google Cloud Storage Upload Report` and execute the following in the JS Console:
 
 ```js
-copy(`wget "${Array.from($$('a[href$=".xml"]')).filter(a => a.innerText === 'Download').map(a => a.href.replace('https://storage.cloud.google.com/', 'https://storage.googleapis.com/')).join('" "')}"`)
+copy(`wget -x -nH --cut-dirs 5 -P "target/downloaded_junit" "${Array.from($$('a[href$=".xml"]')).filter(a => a.innerText === 'Download').map(a => a.href.replace('https://storage.cloud.google.com/', 'https://storage.googleapis.com/')).join('" "')}"`)
 ```
 
-This copies a script to download the reports, which you should execute in the `test/junit` directory.
+This copies a script to download the reports, which you should execute in the root of the Kibana repository.
 
 Next, run the CLI in `--no-github-update` mode so that it doesn't actually communicate with Github and `--no-report-update` to prevent the script from mutating the reports on disk and instead log the updated report.
 
 ```sh
-node scripts/report_failed_tests.js --verbose --no-github-update --no-report-update
+node scripts/report_failed_tests.js --verbose --no-github-update --no-report-update target/downloaded_junit/**/*.xml
 ```
 
 Unless you specify the `GITHUB_TOKEN` environment variable requests to read existing issues will use anonymous access which is limited to 60 requests per hour.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-test/src/failed_tests_reporter/run_failed_tests_reporter_cli.ts b/packages/kbn-test/src/failed_tests_reporter/run_failed_tests_reporter_cli.ts
index 3bcea44cf73b6..8a951ac969199 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-test/src/failed_tests_reporter/run_failed_tests_reporter_cli.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-test/src/failed_tests_reporter/run_failed_tests_reporter_cli.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 
+import Path from 'path';
+
 import { REPO_ROOT, run, createFailError, createFlagError } from '@kbn/dev-utils';
 import globby from 'globby';
 
@@ -28,6 +30,8 @@ import { readTestReport } from './test_report';
 import { addMessagesToReport } from './add_messages_to_report';
 import { getReportMessageIter } from './report_metadata';
 
+const DEFAULT_PATTERNS = [Path.resolve(REPO_ROOT, 'target/junit/**/*.xml')];
+
 export function runFailedTestsReporterCli() {
   run(
     async ({ log, flags }) => {
@@ -67,11 +71,15 @@ export function runFailedTestsReporterCli() {
         throw createFlagError('Missing --build-url or process.env.BUILD_URL');
       }
 
-      const reportPaths = await globby(['target/junit/**/*.xml'], {
-        cwd: REPO_ROOT,
+      const patterns = flags._.length ? flags._ : DEFAULT_PATTERNS;
+      const reportPaths = await globby(patterns, {
         absolute: true,
       });
 
+      if (!reportPaths.length) {
+        throw createFailError(`Unable to find any junit reports with patterns [${patterns}]`);
+      }
+
       const newlyCreatedIssues: Array<{
         failure: TestFailure;
         newIssue: GithubIssueMini;
diff --git a/vars/kibanaPipeline.groovy b/vars/kibanaPipeline.groovy
index f3fc5f84583c9..f43fe9f96c3ef 100644
--- a/vars/kibanaPipeline.groovy
+++ b/vars/kibanaPipeline.groovy
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ def runErrorReporter() {
   bash(
     """
       source src/dev/ci_setup/setup_env.sh
-      node scripts/report_failed_tests ${dryRun}
+      node scripts/report_failed_tests ${dryRun} target/junit/**/*.xml
     """,
     "Report failed tests, if necessary"
   )