Rugby star Kurtley Beale faces another court battle just weeks after being found not guilty of raping a woman in a Bondi pub toilet

Wallabies star Kurtley Beale is asking the state to cover his six-figure legal costs after he was acquitted of sexually assaulting a woman in a Sydney bar.

The 35-year-old faced a jury trial in the New South Wales District Court earlier this year after he pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching.

After a two-week trial, it took jurors less than an hour to determine that the rugby star had not touched a woman’s butt at the Beach Road bar in Bondi on December 17, 2022.

They also rejected the woman’s claims that Beale forced her to perform oral sex in the men’s bathroom.

The award-winning rugby player consistently denied the allegations and told reporters he was glad “the truth has come to light” after being cleared of the charges.

“I have always maintained my innocence,” he said.

“My family and I have suffered a terrible year.”

On Friday, the rugby star’s legal team will return to the NSW District Court to request that the NSW Department of Public Prosecutions pay Mr Beale’s legal bill.

Beale’s lawyer Margaret Cunneen SC and barrister Lauren MacDougall will argue the state should pay their client’s high legal costs after failing to prove its case.

Mr Beale’s legal bill is understood to run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.