South African Player Wessels Receives Nine-Game Suspension for Genital Grab

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

The incident took place in the 18th minute of the narrow victory against Connacht on last Friday, with opposing player Josh Murphy being shown a 20-minute red card after reacting angrily by striking the South African on the head.

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

Wessels stayed on the pitch until he was replaced in the second half of the match.

Although the United Rugby Championship confirmed that Murphy's temporary sending-off was overturned by a governing body, Wessels was found to have breached the code of conduct, which specifies:

"Any athlete should not engage in actions that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship. Such behavior covers grabbing, pulling or squeezing the genitals."

The panel determined that the contact met the red card threshold and justified a three-month ban, the shortest ban under international rugby rules for such an offence.

However, Wessels' ban was shortened by 21 days because of his good conduct prior to and at the proceedings and his clean disciplinary history.

The forward and the Bulls have the right to appeal, but as it stands, the ban will prevent the 24-year-old out of the Springboks' fall internationals against the Brave Blossoms, France, Italy and the Irish team.

He will also miss the Bulls' league matches against Glasgow, the Emirates Lions and the Cell C Sharks, as well as Investec Champions Cup games with Bordeaux and Saints.

The prop has earned ten international appearances for the Springboks and was part of their Rugby Championship-winning squad during the recent tournament.

Murphy, meanwhile, is available to face the Irish rivals in this weekend's inter-provincial derby after being exonerated.