South African Player Wessels Receives Nine-Game Ban for Genital Grab
Wessels 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' URC win over the Irish province.
The altercation took place in the early stages of the Bulls' 28-27 win in Galway on Friday, with Connacht forward Murphy being shown a 20-minute red card after striking back by striking Wessels on the head.
After the Connacht player complained to the match official, the contact was reviewed by the TMO, who concluded insufficient clear footage.
The Bulls player remained on the field until he was substituted in the second half of the game.
Although the United Rugby Championship announced that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was withdrawn by a governing body, Wessels was deemed to have violated law 9.27, which specifies:
"Any athlete must not engage in actions that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship. This includes touching, pulling or compressing the private areas."
Disciplinary officials concluded that the contact met the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the minimum ban under international rugby rules for such an offence.
Nonetheless, the player's suspension was reduced by 21 days because of his cooperative behavior during the hearing and his clean disciplinary history.
Wessels and the Bulls are entitled to challenge the decision, but as it stands, the ban will rule the 24-year-old out of the South African national team's fall internationals against the Brave Blossoms, Les Bleus, the Azzurri and the Irish team.
He will also miss the his club's URC games against Warriors, the Emirates Lions and the Cell C Sharks, as well as Investec Champions Cup games with Bègles and Saints.
Wessels has earned 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 cleared.