diff --git a/python/cudf_polars/cudf_polars/utils/versions.py b/python/cudf_polars/cudf_polars/utils/versions.py
index a9ac14c25aa..9807cffb384 100644
--- a/python/cudf_polars/cudf_polars/utils/versions.py
+++ b/python/cudf_polars/cudf_polars/utils/versions.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 POLARS_VERSION_GE_10 = POLARS_VERSION >= parse("1.0")
 POLARS_VERSION_GE_11 = POLARS_VERSION >= parse("1.1")
 POLARS_VERSION_GE_12 = POLARS_VERSION >= parse("1.2")
+POLARS_VERSION_GE_121 = POLARS_VERSION >= parse("1.2.1")
 POLARS_VERSION_GT_10 = POLARS_VERSION > parse("1.0")
 POLARS_VERSION_GT_11 = POLARS_VERSION > parse("1.1")
 POLARS_VERSION_GT_12 = POLARS_VERSION > parse("1.2")
diff --git a/python/cudf_polars/tests/test_groupby.py b/python/cudf_polars/tests/test_groupby.py
index b650fee5079..a75825ef3d3 100644
--- a/python/cudf_polars/tests/test_groupby.py
+++ b/python/cudf_polars/tests/test_groupby.py
@@ -157,7 +157,18 @@ def test_groupby_nan_minmax_raises(op):
     assert_ir_translation_raises(q, NotImplementedError)
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("key", [1, pl.col("key1")])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "key",
+    [
+        pytest.param(
+            1,
+            marks=pytest.mark.xfail(
+                versions.POLARS_VERSION_GE_121, reason="polars 1.2.1 disallows this"
+            ),
+        ),
+        pl.col("key1"),
+    ],
+)
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "expr",
     [