South African Player Wessels Handed Nine-Match Suspension for Inappropriate Contact

South Africa front-rower Jan-Hendrik Wessels has received a ban of nine games for touching opponent Josh Murphy's genitals during the Blue Bulls' United Rugby Championship win over Connacht.

The incident 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 reacting angrily by hitting Wessels on the head area.

Following Murphy reported the incident to referee Mike Adamson, the event was reviewed by the TMO, who found no definitive proof.

The Bulls player remained on the pitch until he was substituted in the second half of the game.

Although the United Rugby Championship confirmed that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was withdrawn by a governing body, the Springbok was deemed to have violated the code of conduct, which specifies:

"A player must not engage in actions that is contrary to the spirit of good sportsmanship. This includes grabbing, pulling or compressing the private areas."

The panel concluded that the contact reached the red card threshold and warranted a 12-week suspension, the minimum suspension under World Rugby rules for such an violation.

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

Wessels and the Pretoria-based team are entitled to appeal, but as it stands, the ban will prevent the 24-year-old out of the South African national team's autumn Tests against Japan, Les Bleus, Italy and the Irish team.

Wessels will also miss the Bulls' URC games against Glasgow, the Lions and the Cell C Sharks, as well as Investec Champions Cup fixtures with Bègles and Saints.

The prop has won 10 caps for the Springboks and was part of their tri-nations champion squad during the recent tournament.

The Connacht player, in contrast, is eligible to face the Irish rivals in Saturday's domestic clash after being cleared.