Former NRL player Jarryd Hayne walks free from jail after being granted bail

Nine months after he was jailed on rape charges, former NRL player Jarryd Hayne has been freed from prison with his convictions quashed.

The 33-year-old grinned and hugged a friend as he left Cooma Correctional Centre on Tuesday afternoon, carrying a cardboard box and a bag of personal effects.

Hours earlier a district court had granted him bail, a day after a NSW appeal court overturned his convictions and ordered a third trial.

Hayne appeared in the court via audio visual link on Tuesday morning, clad in prison greens, as the judge imposed conditions on his release.

He must pay a $20,000 bail surety within seven days, must surrender his passport, and report to police three times a week, in bail conditions agreed upon by his lawyer and the prosecutors.

He also must not contact the alleged victim or any witnesses, and cannot enter the Newcastle local government area.

Hayne was in May sentenced to five years and nine months behind bars – with a non-parole period of three years and eight months – after he was found guilty of two charges of sexual assault without consent.

The ex-Parramatta player faced a retrial after his first ended with a hung jury.

The Crown contended in both trials he forcibly performed oral and digital sexual intercourse on a woman in her bedroom on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.

The alleged assault left her bleeding from her genitalia, prosecutors said.

Hayne has always maintained that the encounter was consensual.

But Hayne’s barrister, Tim Game SC, successfully argued for his convictions to be overturned on two appeal grounds.

The jury was given legal directions that were “flawed in almost every possible way”, Game said.

He also succeeded in convincing the appeal court it was an error to