South African Forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels Handed Nine-Match Suspension for Inappropriate Contact

Springbok prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels has received a ban of nine games for touching opponent Josh Murphy's genitals during the Bulls' URC victory over the Irish province.

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

Following Murphy complained to referee Mike Adamson, the contact was examined by the television match official, who concluded no conclusive video evidence.

Wessels stayed on the field until he was replaced in the later stages of the game.

While the URC announced that Murphy's 20-minute red card was rescinded by a disciplinary panel, Wessels was found to have violated law 9.27, which specifies:

"Any athlete should not do anything that is contrary to the principles of fair play. This includes touching, pulling or compressing the genitals."

The panel concluded that the contact reached the red card threshold and justified a three-month ban, the minimum ban under World Rugby regulations for such an offence.

Nonetheless, Wessels' suspension was reduced by three weeks because of his good conduct during the hearing and his clean disciplinary history.

Wessels and the Pretoria-based team are entitled to challenge the decision, but currently, the suspension will rule the young player out of the South African national team's fall internationals against Japan, France, the Azzurri and Ireland.

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

The prop has won 10 caps for the Springboks and was part of their Rugby Championship-winning team during the recent tournament.

The Connacht player, in contrast, is eligible to face Munster in Saturday's inter-provincial derby after being cleared.