South African Player Wessels Handed Nine-Match Suspension for Genital Grab

South Africa front-rower Wessels faces a suspension of nine games for touching opponent Josh Murphy's genitals during the Blue Bulls' URC win over the Irish province.

This event took place in the early stages of the narrow victory in Galway on last Friday, with Connacht forward Murphy being shown a temporary dismissal after responding aggressively by hitting the South African on the head area.

After the Connacht player reported the incident to referee Mike Adamson, the contact was examined by the TMO, who concluded insufficient clear footage.

The Bulls player stayed on the pitch 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Although the URC announced that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was withdrawn by a disciplinary panel, the Springbok was deemed to have breached law 9.27, which declares:

"A player should not do anything that is contrary to the principles of fair play. Such behavior covers grabbing, pulling or compressing the private areas."

The panel were satisfied that the event reached the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the shortest ban under international rugby rules for such an violation.

However, Wessels' suspension was shortened by 21 days because of his good conduct during the hearing and his good record.

The forward and the Bulls have the right to appeal, but as it stands, the suspension will rule the 24-year-old out of the South African national team's autumn Tests against the Brave Blossoms, Les Bleus, Italy and the Irish team.

Wessels will additionally be absent for the his club's URC games against Glasgow, the Lions and the Sharks, as well as Investec Champions Cup games with Bègles and Northampton.

The prop has won 10 caps for the Springboks and was included in their tri-nations champion squad over the summer.

Murphy, meanwhile, is eligible to play against Munster in this weekend's domestic clash after being cleared.