Springbok Forward Wessels Given Nine-Match Suspension for Inappropriate Contact

South Africa front-rower Wessels faces a suspension of nine matches for grabbing Josh Murphy's private parts during the Bulls' URC win 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 receiving a 20-minute red card after striking back by hitting the South African on the head area.

Following the Connacht player complained to referee Mike Adamson, the event was checked by the TMO, who determined no conclusive video evidence.

The Bulls player stayed on the pitch 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While the United Rugby Championship announced that the Irish player's temporary sending-off was withdrawn by a disciplinary panel, the Springbok was deemed to have breached law 9.27, which specifies:

"A player must not do anything that is contrary to the principles of fair play. This includes touching, pulling or compressing the private areas."

The panel concluded that the incident met the red card threshold and justified a three-month ban, the minimum ban under international rugby regulations for such an offence.

Nonetheless, Wessels' suspension was shortened by three weeks because of his cooperative behavior prior to and at the hearing and his clean disciplinary history.

Wessels and the Bulls are entitled to appeal, but currently, the ban will prevent the 24-year-old out of the Springboks' fall internationals against the Brave Blossoms, France, Italy and Ireland.

He will additionally be absent for the Bulls' URC games against Warriors, the Emirates Lions and the Cell C Sharks, as well as Investec Champions Cup games with Bègles and Northampton.

The prop has earned 10 caps for the Springboks and was included in their tri-nations champion squad during the recent tournament.

The Connacht player, meanwhile, is available to face the Irish rivals in this weekend's inter-provincial derby after being exonerated.