Australian rugby league star Jarryd Hayne’s civil rape trial in California will not be held until 2020.

US District Court Judge Lucy Koh set the schedule for the proceedings during a hearing in San Jose, near San Francisco, on Wednesday.
Hayne and the woman did not attend.

Judge Koh set a five-day trial for January 27, 2020.

The woman, named in court documents as JV, alleges she was a virgin and heavily intoxicated when she met Hayne through mutual friends at a San Jose bar in December 2015 while he was playing for the San Francisco 49ers’ NFL team.

She alleges they had “minimal interaction” at the bar, but caught an Uber to his apartment, where he sexually assaulted her.

In December 2017, JV’s lawyer, Micha Star Liberty told San Francisco newspaper The Mercury News that JV eventually sought medical treatment for continued vaginal pain in April 2016. The hospital concluded she had been sexually assaulted and contacted police in San Jose, as required by law.

Hayne has claimed JV “willingly engaged in sexual interaction that did not include sexual intercourse”.

“Mr Hayne unequivocally and vehemently denies the allegations which are the subject of the civil complaint,” his laywers said in a statement in December 2017.

JV did try to bring criminal charges against Hayne, but the local District Attorney’s Office rejected it in October 2016 on the basis of insufficient evidence.

She is seeking “monetary damages”, although the amount has yet to be disclosed.

Hayne in action for the 49ers. Photo: AAP

Hayne played for the 49ers in 2015, after quitting the Parramatta Eels rugby league club to pursue an NFL career.

He retired from the NFL in May 2016, and then tried – and failed – to make the Fiji rugby sevens Olympic team. He has since played rugby league for the Gold Coast Titans and is now back with Parramatta Eels.

-AAP