Springbok Forward Wessels Handed Nine-Match Suspension for Inappropriate Contact

Springbok front-rower Wessels faces a suspension of nine matches for grabbing Josh Murphy's genitals during the Blue Bulls' United Rugby Championship win over Connacht.

This event took place in the early stages of the narrow victory against Connacht on Friday, with opposing player Josh Murphy being shown a 20-minute red card after striking back by striking the South African on the head.

Following Murphy reported the incident to referee Mike Adamson, the situation was reviewed by the TMO, who determined insufficient clear footage.

Wessels remained on the field until he was substituted in the later stages of the game.

While the United Rugby Championship confirmed that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was overturned by a governing body, Wessels was found to have breached law 9.27, which declares:

"Any athlete should not do anything that is against the principles of fair play. Such behavior covers grabbing, pulling or squeezing the genitals."

Disciplinary officials were satisfied that the contact reached the red card threshold and justified a three-month ban, the minimum suspension under international rugby regulations for such an infringement.

However, Wessels' ban was reduced by 21 days because of his good conduct during the hearing and his clean disciplinary history.

The forward and the Pretoria-based team are entitled to appeal, but currently, the suspension will rule the young player out of the South African national team's fall internationals against Japan, France, Italy and the Irish team.

Wessels will additionally be absent for the his club's league matches against Glasgow, the Lions and the Sharks, as well as European cup games with Bordeaux and Saints.

The prop has won 10 caps for South Africa and was part of their tri-nations champion squad over the summer.

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