South African Player Wessels Handed Nine-Match Suspension for Inappropriate Contact
The player will be unavailable for South Africa's upcoming test matches.
Springbok prop Wessels has received a ban of nine matches for making contact with opponent Josh Murphy's genitals during the Blue Bulls' URC win over the Irish province.
The altercation happened in the early stages of the narrow victory in Galway on Friday, with opposing player Murphy being shown a 20-minute red card after reacting angrily by striking Wessels on the head area.
After the Connacht player reported the incident to referee Mike Adamson, the event was examined by the television match official, who concluded no definitive proof.
The Bulls player stayed on the field until he was substituted in the later stages of the game.
Although the URC confirmed that Murphy's temporary sending-off was withdrawn by a governing body, Wessels was found to have violated the code of conduct, which states:
"Any athlete must not engage in actions that is against the principles of fair play. This includes grabbing, pulling or squeezing the private areas."
The panel concluded that the contact reached the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the shortest suspension under World Rugby rules for such an infringement.
However, the player's suspension was shortened by 21 days because of his good conduct prior to and at the proceedings and his clean disciplinary history.
Wessels and the Pretoria-based team are entitled to challenge the decision, but as it stands, the ban will rule the 24-year-old out of the Springboks' autumn Tests against Japan, France, Italy and Ireland.
He will additionally be absent for the Bulls' league matches against Warriors, the Emirates Lions and the Cell C Sharks, as well as European cup fixtures with Bègles and Northampton.
The prop has earned 10 caps for the Springboks and was part of their tri-nations champion team during the recent tournament.
Murphy, meanwhile, is available to face the Irish rivals in this weekend's inter-provincial derby after being cleared.
