South African Player Wessels Given Nine-Match Suspension for Genital Grab
The player will be unavailable for the Springboks' upcoming test matches.
Springbok prop Wessels faces a suspension of nine games for touching opponent Josh Murphy's private parts during the Bulls' United Rugby Championship win over Connacht.
The incident took place in the 18th minute of the narrow victory against Connacht on last Friday, with opposing player Josh Murphy being shown a temporary dismissal after striking back by striking the South African on the head.
After the Connacht player complained to referee Mike Adamson, the situation was checked by the television match official, who found no conclusive video evidence.
The Bulls player stayed on the pitch until he was replaced in the second half of the game.
Although the United Rugby Championship announced that the Irish player's 20-minute red card was withdrawn by a disciplinary panel, the Springbok was found to have violated the code of conduct, which declares:
"Any athlete should not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship. This includes grabbing, pulling or compressing the private areas."
The panel concluded that the event reached the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the minimum ban under international rugby rules for such an offence.
Nonetheless, the player's suspension was reduced by 21 days 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 as it stands, the suspension will prevent the 24-year-old out of the South African national team's fall internationals against Japan, France, Italy and Ireland.
He will also miss the Bulls' league matches 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 South Africa and was included in their tri-nations champion team over the summer.
The Connacht player, in contrast, is eligible to play against Munster in this weekend's inter-provincial derby after being cleared.
