diff --git a/rlp/decode_test.go b/rlp/decode_test.go
index 4d8abd0012..503b581453 100644
--- a/rlp/decode_test.go
+++ b/rlp/decode_test.go
@@ -347,6 +347,12 @@ type tailUint struct {
 	Tail []uint `rlp:"tail"`
 }
 
+type tailPrivateFields struct {
+	A    uint
+	Tail []uint `rlp:"tail"`
+	x, y bool
+}
+
 var (
 	veryBigInt = big.NewInt(0).Add(
 		big.NewInt(0).Lsh(big.NewInt(0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFF), 16),
@@ -510,6 +516,11 @@ var decodeTests = []decodeTest{
 		ptr:   new(tailRaw),
 		value: tailRaw{A: 1, Tail: []RawValue{}},
 	},
+	{
+		input: "C3010203",
+		ptr:   new(tailPrivateFields),
+		value: tailPrivateFields{A: 1, Tail: []uint{2, 3}},
+	},
 
 	// struct tag "-"
 	{
diff --git a/rlp/typecache.go b/rlp/typecache.go
index 8c2dd518e2..0041d1d7bd 100644
--- a/rlp/typecache.go
+++ b/rlp/typecache.go
@@ -96,9 +96,10 @@ type field struct {
 }
 
 func structFields(typ reflect.Type) (fields []field, err error) {
+	lastPublic := lastPublicField(typ)
 	for i := 0; i < typ.NumField(); i++ {
 		if f := typ.Field(i); f.PkgPath == "" { // exported
-			tags, err := parseStructTag(typ, i)
+			tags, err := parseStructTag(typ, i, lastPublic)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
@@ -115,7 +116,7 @@ func structFields(typ reflect.Type) (fields []field, err error) {
 	return fields, nil
 }
 
-func parseStructTag(typ reflect.Type, fi int) (tags, error) {
+func parseStructTag(typ reflect.Type, fi, lastPublic int) (tags, error) {
 	f := typ.Field(fi)
 	var ts tags
 	for _, t := range strings.Split(f.Tag.Get("rlp"), ",") {
@@ -127,7 +128,7 @@ func parseStructTag(typ reflect.Type, fi int) (tags, error) {
 			ts.nilOK = true
 		case "tail":
 			ts.tail = true
-			if fi != typ.NumField()-1 {
+			if fi != lastPublic {
 				return ts, fmt.Errorf(`rlp: invalid struct tag "tail" for %v.%s (must be on last field)`, typ, f.Name)
 			}
 			if f.Type.Kind() != reflect.Slice {
@@ -140,6 +141,16 @@ func parseStructTag(typ reflect.Type, fi int) (tags, error) {
 	return ts, nil
 }
 
+func lastPublicField(typ reflect.Type) int {
+	last := 0
+	for i := 0; i < typ.NumField(); i++ {
+		if typ.Field(i).PkgPath == "" {
+			last = i
+		}
+	}
+	return last
+}
+
 func genTypeInfo(typ reflect.Type, tags tags) (info *typeinfo, err error) {
 	info = new(typeinfo)
 	if info.decoder, err = makeDecoder(typ, tags); err != nil {