Peter Hewat (born 17 March 1978) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player now coaching in Japan's

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

for

Ricoh Black Rams Black Rams Tokyo (formerly Ricoh Black Rams) is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. Placed 10th in the 2004-2005 season which meant it had to win a play-off against one of the top regional teams to stay in the league, as it d ...

. He previously played for the

NSW Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state ...

Central Coast Rays Sydney is an Australian rugby union team that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). Formerly known as Sydney Rays, the team is one of two sides from New South Wales in the competition; the other being the NSW Country Eagles. T ...

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

and Suntory Sungoliath. On 12 April 2010, it was confirmed that Hewat was leaving London Irish to go play in Japan.

Youth

Originally from Inverell in north-west NSW, Hewat is a product of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

's renowned Rugby nursery,

Nudgee College , motto_translation = A Sign of Faith , location = Boondall, Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , other_name = St. Joseph's Nudgee College , former_name ...

. In spite of this, he did not play his first game until the age of 14. A natural athlete, within a year he was playing in the first XV alongside former Queensland Red Elton Flatley. Hewat also showed great potential as a junior cricketer ultimately representing Australia at the schoolboy level. Hewat then had a short yet successful stint in the Brisbane 1st grade club competition before he began to concentrate on rugby more seriously. In 2003, Hewat represented the Potoroo's 7 A Side Rugby Team where he won player of the tournament at the prestigious

Darwin Hottest Sevens The Darwin Hottest Sevens, known as the Hottest 7s in the World or the Hottest 7s, is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Darwin, Australia on a weekend in early October. The event is sponsored by Heineken and is hosted by the Northern ...

. Hewat is the son of a cousin of former Australian Test cricketer

Rick McCosker Richard Bede McCosker (born 11 December 1946) is a former Australian cricketer. McCosker played in 25 Test matches and 14 One Day Internationals in a career spanning 1975 to 1982, playing as a right hand batsman. He is well remembered for ...

. He moved on to Australian U21 duties in 1998, before representing Australia at Sevens from 2001 to 2003.

2005

2005 can only be described as a watershed year in the career of Hewat. The leading Super 12 pointscorer in his debut year, his 10 tries broke

Scott Staniforth Scott Nicholas Gelling Staniforth (born 12 December 1977 in West Wyalong) is an Australian rugby union footballer. Career Returning to Australia after two years with London Irish, Scott Staniforth was the last player to sign with the Wester ...

's Waratah record for tries in a season. He also smashed Matthew Burke's NSW record for points in a season, finishing with 243 points from 17 games during 2005. Almost unbelievably, Hewat came into 2005 with just two state caps and five points to his name. An electrifying and unpredictable fullback and winger, he missed just one match for the season, when he was rested from the Waratahs clash with the Romanian Barbarians on the Gulf Air development tour of Eastern Europe. On top of this, Hewat played two games for Australia A and captained Manly to within one win of the

Tooheys New Cup {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Tooheys New Cup, or TNC, was a rugby union competition established by the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) in 2002. Played in the second half of the rugby season after the Super 12 competition was comple ...

Grand Final.

2006

In the game against the

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in round seven of the Super 14, Hewat moved on to second on the all-time pointscorers list for the Waratahs, his 28-point haul in the match seeing him move on to 359 points to surpass

Marty Roebuck Marty Roebuck (born 10 January 1965 in Lithgow, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby union footballer who represented New South Wales Waratahs and the Australian Wallabies as a fullback. Early life and education Roebuck was educate ...

who held the spot with 337 points. Only Matt Burke (1147) has scored more points for New South Wales. In the same match, he also equalled Burke's record for scoring 100 season points in seven Super matches. In round eight against the

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, Hewat's 27 point haul saw him surpass 300 Super points. Two rounds later, against the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses whi ...

, Hewat surpassed the 400 point mark for NSW. Hewat's haul of points in the round 14 match v

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saw him register 177 points for the season – establishing a record for the most Super Rugby points in a season. Hewat's outstanding form in the 2006 Tooheys New Cup saw him awarded the Ken Catchpole Medal for 2006. The telling impact Hewat can have on a match was again evident when he came on as a replacement in the APC match against the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

. He came on as a replacement in the second half and scored a quick-fire 17 points in the space of 20 minutes, equalling the record for the most points in a match by a replacement, previously set by Tim Kelaher.

Leaves Australia

After the end of the 2007 S14 season it was leaked to the press and Hewat himself that he was not in the reckoning for a Wallaby position and will not be included in the squad. This left Hewat disillusioned and resulted in his decision to consider lucrative offers from oversees. On 27 July 2007, it was confirmed by

NSWRU The New South Wales Rugby Union, or NSWRU, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union within most of the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within Australia it is considered ...

and Hewat that they had worked out a release so he could continue playing rugby over in Europe and demand significantly more than what he earned in Australia.

Records and Achievements

*The leading Super 12 pointscorer in his debut year (2005). *The NSW record for points in a season, finishing with 243 points from 17 games during 2005. *Second only to Matt Burke (1147) in all-time points for New South Wales *He equalled Burke's record for scoring 100 season points in seven Super matches. *He surpassed the 400 point mark for NSW in round 10 2006. *Registered 177 points for the season – establishing a record for the most Super Rugby points in a season in the round 14 match v Hurricanes . This has since been broken by Dan Carter. *Awarded the Ken Catchpole Medal for outstanding form in the 2006 Tooheys New Cup

References

External links

London Irish profileNSW Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewat, Peter 1978 births Australian rugby union players New South Wales Waratahs players ACT Brumbies players Living people London Irish players Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union fullbacks Tokyo Sungoliath players Australian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Rugby union players from New South Wales