South African Forward Wessels Receives Nine-Match Ban for Inappropriate Contact

South Africa front-rower Wessels has received a ban of nine games for touching Josh Murphy's genitals during the Bulls' United Rugby Championship win over the Irish province.

This event took place in the 18th minute of the narrow victory in Galway on last Friday, with Connacht forward Josh Murphy being shown a temporary dismissal after responding aggressively by striking Wessels on the head area.

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

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

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

"Any athlete should not engage in actions that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship. This includes touching, pulling or squeezing the genitals."

Disciplinary officials concluded that the contact met the red card threshold and warranted a 12-week suspension, the minimum ban under World 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.

Wessels and the Bulls are entitled to challenge the decision, but as it stands, the ban will rule the young player out of the Springboks' autumn Tests against Japan, France, the Azzurri and the Irish team.

Wessels will also miss the Bulls' league matches against Glasgow, the Emirates Lions and the Sharks, as well as European cup games with Bègles and Northampton.

Wessels has earned 10 caps for the Springboks and was included in their tri-nations champion squad over the summer.

Murphy, in contrast, is eligible to face Munster in Saturday's domestic clash after being cleared.