South African Player Wessels Handed Nine-Match Suspension for Inappropriate Contact
The player will be unavailable for the Springboks' autumn internationals.
South Africa front-rower Jan-Hendrik Wessels has received a ban of nine games for touching Josh Murphy's private parts during the Bulls' United Rugby Championship victory over the Irish province.
This event occurred in the 18th minute of the Bulls' 28-27 win in Galway on last Friday, with Connacht forward Josh Murphy being shown a temporary dismissal after responding aggressively by striking Wessels on the head area.
Following Murphy reported the incident to the match official, the situation was checked by the TMO, who concluded insufficient clear footage.
Wessels remained on the field until he was substituted in the second half of the game.
While the URC confirmed that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was withdrawn by a disciplinary panel, the Springbok was found to have breached the code of conduct, which specifies:
"A player must not engage in actions that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship. This includes grabbing, twisting or compressing the genitals."
The panel were satisfied that the event met the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the shortest suspension under international rugby regulations for such an offence.
However, the player's ban was shortened by 21 days because of his good conduct during the proceedings and his clean disciplinary history.
The forward and the Pretoria-based team are entitled to appeal, but currently, the ban will rule the young player out of the South African national team's fall internationals against Japan, France, Italy and Ireland.
Wessels will additionally be absent for the Bulls' league matches against Warriors, the Emirates Lions and the Cell C Sharks, as well as Investec Champions Cup games with Bègles and Northampton.
The prop has won ten international appearances for South Africa and was included in their tri-nations champion squad during the recent tournament.
The Connacht player, meanwhile, is available to face the Irish rivals in Saturday's domestic clash after being exonerated.
