NRL star Hayne saves woman from drowning

NRL star Jarryd Hayne has rescued a female Irish backpacker who got caught in heavy surf at a Sydney beach yesterday.

The Parramatta Eels fullback was swimming with his father at Coogee beach about 1pm when they spotted the woman stuck in a rip, yelling 'I can't do this anymore', the Daily Telegraph reports.

Hayne and dad Manoa Thompson, who used to play for South Sydney, were swept 200m out to sea during the rescue.

"Put it this way, if Jarryd hadn't pulled her up, she was gone," Thompson told the Telegraph.
Thompson said the pair held her above water and told her to stay calm during the "traumatic" experience.

Hayne said he had never been caught in a rip that powerful before, and the rescue was made harder by the fact the woman could not swim.
"I was just telling her to relax but we kept getting dragged further and further out — we kept her head above water and kept telling her not to panic," Hayne told the Telegraph.

Lifesavers came to the backpacker's aid after the footballers dragged her in from the swell.

The woman thanked the pair but left the beach soon after the rescue.