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

Springbok front-rower Jan-Hendrik Wessels has been suspended of nine games for making contact with opponent Josh Murphy's private parts during the Bulls' URC win over Connacht.

This event happened in the early stages of the Bulls' 28-27 win against Connacht on last Friday, with Connacht forward Murphy being shown a temporary dismissal after responding aggressively by hitting the South African on the head.

After Murphy reported the incident to referee Mike Adamson, the situation was reviewed by the television match official, who determined no conclusive video evidence.

The Bulls player stayed on the pitch until he was substituted in the later stages of the game.

While the URC announced that the Irish player's 20-minute red card was overturned by a disciplinary panel, Wessels was deemed to have violated law 9.27, which declares:

"Any athlete must not engage in actions that is against the principles of fair play. This includes grabbing, pulling or compressing the private areas."

The panel determined that the event reached the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the minimum suspension under international rugby regulations for such an infringement.

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

Wessels and the Bulls are entitled to challenge the decision, but as it stands, the suspension will rule the 24-year-old out of the Springboks' fall internationals against Japan, France, Italy and Ireland.

Wessels will additionally be absent for the his club's league matches against Warriors, the Lions and the Cell C Sharks, as well as Investec Champions Cup games with Bègles and Northampton.

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

The Connacht player, in contrast, is available to face the Irish rivals in Saturday's inter-provincial derby after being cleared.