Springbok Player Wessels Receives Nine-Match Suspension for Genital Grab

Springbok front-rower Jan-Hendrik Wessels faces a suspension of nine matches for grabbing opponent Josh Murphy's private parts during the Bulls' United Rugby Championship win over Connacht.

This event occurred in the early stages of the close contest in Galway on Friday, with opposing player Murphy being shown a 20-minute red card after responding aggressively by hitting Wessels on the head.

After the Connacht player reported the incident to referee Mike Adamson, the event was examined by the TMO, who concluded no definitive proof.

The Bulls player stayed on the field until he was substituted in the later stages of the match.

While the United Rugby Championship announced that Murphy's 20-minute red card was overturned by a governing body, the Springbok was found to have breached law 9.27, which specifies:

"Any athlete must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship. This includes grabbing, pulling or compressing the genitals."

Disciplinary officials were satisfied that the contact met the red card threshold and warranted a three-month ban, the minimum ban under World Rugby regulations for such an infringement.

Nonetheless, Wessels' ban was reduced by three weeks because of his cooperative behavior during the hearing and his clean disciplinary history.

Wessels and the Pretoria-based team are entitled to appeal, but currently, the suspension will rule the 24-year-old out of the South African national team's autumn Tests against Japan, France, Italy and Ireland.

Wessels will also miss the his club's league matches against Warriors, the Emirates Lions and the Sharks, as well as Investec Champions Cup fixtures with Bègles and Saints.

The prop has earned 10 caps for South Africa and was included in their tri-nations champion squad during the recent tournament.

Murphy, in contrast, is available to play against Munster in this weekend's domestic clash after being exonerated.