South African Player Jan-Hendrik Wessels Receives Nine-Match Ban for Genital Grab
The player will be unavailable for South Africa's fall fixtures.
South Africa prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels has been suspended of nine matches for grabbing Josh Murphy's private parts during the Blue Bulls' United Rugby Championship win over Connacht.
The altercation occurred in the early stages of the narrow victory against Connacht on last Friday, with opposing player Murphy receiving a temporary dismissal after striking back by striking Wessels on the head area.
After the Connacht player reported the incident to the match official, the situation was examined by the television match official, who determined no conclusive video evidence.
Wessels stayed on the pitch until he was replaced in the later stages of the game.
While the United Rugby Championship confirmed that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was rescinded by a governing body, Wessels was found to have breached the code of conduct, which specifies:
"A player must not engage in actions that is against the principles of fair play. This includes grabbing, pulling or compressing the genitals."
Disciplinary officials were satisfied that the event reached the red card threshold and warranted a 12-week suspension, the shortest suspension under World Rugby rules for such an violation.
Nonetheless, the player's ban was reduced by 21 days because of his cooperative behavior during the hearing and his clean disciplinary history.
Wessels and the Pretoria-based team are entitled to challenge the decision, but currently, the ban will rule the 24-year-old out of the Springboks' fall internationals against Japan, France, Italy and the Irish team.
He will additionally be absent for the his club's URC games against Glasgow, the Emirates Lions and the Sharks, as well as European cup fixtures with Bègles and Northampton.
Wessels has won ten international appearances for the Springboks and was included in their tri-nations champion team during the recent tournament.
Murphy, in contrast, is eligible to face Munster in Saturday's inter-provincial derby after being exonerated.
