Springbok Player Wessels Given Nine-Match Suspension for Genital Grab
The player will be unavailable for South Africa's autumn internationals.
South Africa front-rower Jan-Hendrik Wessels faces a suspension of nine games for touching opponent Josh Murphy's private parts during the Bulls' United Rugby Championship win over the Irish province.
The altercation happened in the 18th minute of the narrow victory against Connacht on last Friday, with opposing player Murphy receiving a 20-minute red card after striking back by striking Wessels on the head area.
After Murphy reported the incident to the match official, the event was reviewed by the TMO, who concluded no conclusive video evidence.
The Bulls player stayed on the pitch until he was substituted in the later stages of the game.
Although the URC announced that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was withdrawn by a disciplinary panel, Wessels was found to have violated the code of conduct, which specifies:
"A player must not do anything that is contrary to the spirit of good sportsmanship. This includes touching, twisting or compressing the genitals."
Disciplinary officials concluded that the incident met the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the shortest suspension under World Rugby regulations for such an infringement.
However, the player's suspension was reduced by three weeks because of his cooperative behavior during the proceedings and his clean disciplinary history.
The forward and the Pretoria-based team have the right to appeal, but currently, the suspension will rule the young player out of the South African national team's fall internationals against Japan, Les Bleus, Italy and the Irish team.
Wessels will also miss the Bulls' league matches against Warriors, the Emirates Lions and the Sharks, as well as European cup games with Bègles and Northampton.
The prop has won ten international appearances for the Springboks and was part of their Rugby Championship-winning squad during the recent tournament.
The Connacht player, in contrast, is eligible to play against Munster in this weekend's domestic clash after being exonerated.
