diff --git a/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/rawsql/DRawSqlParser.java b/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/rawsql/DRawSqlParser.java
index a653a074e..0d8552307 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/rawsql/DRawSqlParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/rawsql/DRawSqlParser.java
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package io.ebeaninternal.server.rawsql;
 
-import io.ebeaninternal.server.rawsql.SpiRawSql.Sql;
 import io.ebeaninternal.server.querydefn.SimpleTextParser;
+import io.ebeaninternal.server.rawsql.SpiRawSql.Sql;
 
 /**
  * Parses sql-select queries to try and determine the location where WHERE and
@@ -55,11 +55,7 @@ class DRawSqlParser {
 
   private Sql parse() {
 
-    if (!hasPlaceHolders()) {
-      // parse the sql for the keywords...
-      // select, from, where, having, group by, order by
-      parseSqlFindKeywords(true);
-    }
+    parseSqlFindKeywords(true);
 
     whereExprPos = findWhereExprPosition();
     havingExprPos = findHavingExprPosition();
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/rawsql/TestRawSqlParsing.java b/src/test/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/rawsql/TestRawSqlParsing.java
index 570509646..e868cb9bd 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/rawsql/TestRawSqlParsing.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/rawsql/TestRawSqlParsing.java
@@ -57,4 +57,19 @@ public class TestRawSqlParsing extends BaseTestCase {
 
     assertThat(list).isNotEmpty();
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testWhere() {
+
+    ResetBasicData.reset();
+
+    RawSql sql = RawSqlBuilder.parse("SELECT id, name FROM o_customer ${where}").create();
+
+    List<Customer> customers = Ebean.createQuery(Customer.class)
+      .setRawSql(sql)
+      .where().gt("id", 1)
+      .findList();
+
+    assertThat(customers).isNotEmpty();
+  }
 }