After winning an appeal against his rape convictions, former Australian rugby league player Jarryd Hayne will now face trial a fourth time in the same case.

A jury last year found the 36-year-old guilty of sexual assault; he was given a minimum three-year prison sentence.

He has continuously denied that he assaulted the unnamed woman in her bedroom, claiming that they had consensual intercourse.

Mr. Hayne played a brief stint as an American football player in the NFL and was one of the most well-known athletes in Australia's National Rugby League (NRL).

During an 11-day trial last year, the 26-year-old woman told a New South Wales (NSW) court the pair had chatted on social media for two weeks before Mr Hayne stopped at her house in Newcastle - about two hours north of Sydney - after a bachelor party in September 2018.

She said Mr Hayne forced himself on her there, despite her saying "no" and "stop", leaving her bleeding.

Mr Hayne’s appeal was heard in April by a panel of three judges from the state's top court.

On Wednesday, two of the three ruled that the trial judge had erred in prohibiting cross-examination of the woman over certain text messages, which Mr Hayne's legal team argued had implied her consent.

When delivering the verdict, Justice Stephen Rothman said that had amounted to a miscarriage of justice, ordering Mr Hayne's convictions to be quashed.

“Whether there is in fact a further trial is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions," he added.

Last year's trial was the third time Mr Hayne has stood accused over the same case. His first trial ended in a hung jury, and a guilty verdict in the second trial was overturned on appeal.

He has collectively spent almost two years in jail as the legal saga has unfolded, and his accuser has been forced to give evidence and face lengthy cross-examination multiple times.

Mr Hayne twice won the NRL's player of the year award and played 11 Tests for Australia.

At the height of his NRL career, in 2015 he joined the NFL in the US with the San Francisco 49ers.