Springbok Forward Wessels Given Nine-Match Ban for Genital Grab
The player will be unavailable for South Africa's fall fixtures.
Springbok prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels has received a ban of nine games for grabbing Josh Murphy's genitals during the Bulls' URC win over Connacht.
The altercation happened in the early stages of the narrow victory in Galway on last Friday, with opposing player Murphy receiving a temporary dismissal after responding aggressively by hitting Wessels on the head.
After Murphy reported the incident to referee Mike Adamson, the event was checked by the television match official, who found no conclusive video evidence.
Wessels remained on the field until he was replaced in the second half of the game.
Although the URC announced that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was withdrawn by a disciplinary panel, the Springbok was found to have breached the code of conduct, which specifies: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 should not do anything that is contrary to the spirit of good sportsmanship. Such behavior covers touching, pulling or compressing the private areas."
The panel concluded that the incident reached the red card threshold and justified a three-month ban, the shortest ban under international rugby rules for such an infringement.
Nonetheless, Wessels' suspension was shortened by three weeks because of his good conduct prior to and at the proceedings and his good record.
Wessels and the Pretoria-based team are entitled to appeal, but as it stands, the ban will rule the young player out of the Springboks' fall internationals against Japan, France, the Azzurri and Ireland.
He will additionally be absent for the his club's URC games against Warriors, the Emirates Lions and the Sharks, as well as Investec Champions Cup fixtures with Bordeaux and Northampton.
The prop has won ten international appearances for the Springboks and was included in their tri-nations champion squad during the recent tournament.
Murphy, in contrast, is available to face the Irish rivals in Saturday's inter-provincial derby after being cleared.
