Hewat has made 78 appearances for Irish, scoring 22 tries and 487 points

London Irish's Australian full-back Peter Hewat says he will always be proud of his time at the club as he prepares to leave England for Japan.

Saturday's match against Northampton, the last of the Premiership season, is also likely to be Hewat's farewell.

He told BBC Berkshire: "I definitely have no regrets about coming over. It's lived up to all my expectations.

"It's all been high points, just being involved with London Irish. It's something I'm very proud of."

Hewat said the decision to leave the Exiles was a difficult one.

"I was definitely tempted to stay, but I'm at a stage of my career where I'm closer to the end than the start.

"The opportunity came to play in Japan and I've always wanted to go there, so I couldn't say no to that chance."

Hewat has spent three seasons at Irish since joining from Australian side New South Wales Waratahs.

He conceded there had been one or two matches he did not enjoy.

"Perpignan away in the Heineken Cup [in December 2007] wasn't great. That was my first taste of 'what the hell am I doing here?'," he said.

Hewat did not enjoy the snow in Perpignan in 2007

"It started off a beautiful French day but by the time we went out to warm up it was snowing and it was freezing cold and we lost, so that wasn't a great experience.

"In terms of highs, the Perpignan quarter-final [in April 2008] was special, as was the semi-final against Toulouse and the Premiership final last year."

The 32-year-old said he hoped to continue playing for a few years yet.

"I've two years in Japan and I'd like to keep playing after that - you're a long time retired.

"After that, I'm not sure. I'll hopefully graduate from my level two coaching course, so I'll have that up my sleeve, but I hope there's a few more years left in me yet."

London Irish versus Northampton kicks off at 1500 BST on Saturday 8 May and is live on BBC Radio Berkshire.

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