diff --git a/core/src/main/java/cucumber/runtime/table/TableConverter.java b/core/src/main/java/cucumber/runtime/table/TableConverter.java
index 51e3dea80d..0d997d856d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/cucumber/runtime/table/TableConverter.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/cucumber/runtime/table/TableConverter.java
@@ -110,7 +110,11 @@ private <T> List<T> toListOfComplexType(DataTable dataTable, Class<T> itemType)
         } catch (AbstractReflectionConverter.DuplicateFieldException e) {
             throw new CucumberException(e.getShortMessage());
         } catch (ConversionException e) {
-            throw new CucumberException(String.format("Can't assign null value to one of the primitive fields in %s. Please use boxed types.", e.get("class")));
+            if (e.getCause() instanceof NullPointerException) {
+                throw new CucumberException(String.format("Can't assign null value to one of the primitive fields in %s. Please use boxed types.", e.get("class")));
+            } else {
+                throw e;
+            }
         }
     }