South African Forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels Receives Nine-Match Suspension for Genital Grab

South Africa front-rower Jan-Hendrik Wessels has been suspended of nine games for making contact with opponent Josh Murphy's genitals during the Blue Bulls' United Rugby Championship victory over Connacht.

This event occurred in the 18th minute of the narrow victory in Galway on Friday, with Connacht forward Josh Murphy receiving a temporary dismissal after responding aggressively by hitting Wessels on the head.

After Murphy complained to referee Mike Adamson, the contact was examined by the TMO, who found no definitive proof.

The Bulls player remained on the field until he was substituted in the second half of the game.

While the United Rugby Championship confirmed that the Irish player's 20-minute red card was overturned by a disciplinary panel, Wessels was found to have breached the code of conduct, which specifies:

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

The panel concluded that the event met the red card threshold and justified a 12-week suspension, the minimum ban under international rugby regulations for such an infringement.

Nonetheless, Wessels' suspension was reduced by 21 days because of his good conduct during the hearing and his clean disciplinary history.

The forward 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 autumn Tests against Japan, France, Italy and Ireland.

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

Wessels has won 10 caps for South Africa and was included in their Rugby Championship-winning team over the summer.

Murphy, in contrast, is available to play against Munster in Saturday's inter-provincial derby after being exonerated.