Springbok Forward Wessels Receives Nine-Match Suspension for Genital Grab
The player will miss for South Africa's autumn internationals.
Springbok prop Wessels faces a suspension of nine games for grabbing opponent Josh Murphy's private parts during the Blue Bulls' United Rugby Championship victory over the Irish province.
The incident happened in the 18th minute of the close contest in Galway on last Friday, with Connacht forward Josh Murphy receiving a 20-minute red card after striking back by striking Wessels on the head area.
After the Connacht player reported the incident to referee Mike Adamson, the situation was reviewed by the television match official, who determined insufficient clear footage.
Wessels stayed on the field until he was replaced in the second half of the match.
While the URC announced that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was rescinded by a governing body, the Springbok was found to have violated the code of conduct, which declares:
"A player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship. This includes touching, pulling or compressing the genitals."
Disciplinary officials concluded that the contact reached the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the minimum suspension under international rugby rules for such an infringement.
However, the player's ban was reduced by three weeks 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 appeal, but currently, the ban will rule the 24-year-old out of the South African national team's autumn Tests against Japan, Les Bleus, Italy and the Irish team.
He will also miss the his club's URC games against Warriors, the Emirates Lions and the Sharks, as well as European cup games with Bègles and Northampton.
The prop has earned ten international appearances for the Springboks and was part of their tri-nations champion team over the summer.
The Connacht player, meanwhile, is eligible to face the Irish rivals in Saturday's inter-provincial derby after being exonerated.
