South African Player Wessels Receives Nine-Game Ban for Inappropriate Contact
The player will be unavailable for South Africa's autumn internationals.
South Africa prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels has received a ban of nine games for making contact with opponent Josh Murphy's genitals during the Blue Bulls' URC victory over Connacht.
The altercation happened in the early stages of the Bulls' 28-27 win against Connacht on last Friday, with Connacht forward Josh Murphy being shown a temporary dismissal after reacting angrily by striking the South African on the head area.
Following the Connacht player reported the incident to referee Mike Adamson, the contact was checked by the TMO, who determined no definitive proof.
The Bulls player remained on the field until he was replaced in the later stages of the match.
While the United Rugby Championship confirmed that the Irish player's 20-minute red card was rescinded by a disciplinary panel, the Springbok was found to have breached law 9.27, which specifies:
"A player should not engage in actions that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship. This includes touching, twisting or compressing the private areas."
Disciplinary officials concluded that the contact reached the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the shortest ban under international rugby rules for such an infringement.
Nonetheless, the player's suspension was shortened by 21 days because of his cooperative behavior prior to and at the hearing and his clean disciplinary history.
Wessels and the Pretoria-based team are entitled to challenge the decision, but as it stands, the suspension will rule the young player out of the South African national team's fall internationals against Japan, Les Bleus, Italy and Ireland.
Wessels will additionally be absent for the Bulls' URC games against Glasgow, the Emirates Lions and the Sharks, as well as European cup games with Bègles and Saints.
The prop has earned ten international appearances for South Africa and was part of their Rugby Championship-winning squad over the summer.
The Connacht player, meanwhile, is available to play against the Irish rivals in Saturday's domestic clash after being exonerated.
