Harlequins (6) 9
Pens: Clegg 3
London Irish (6) 9
Pens: Lamb 2, Hewat

Rory Clegg kicks one of his side's penalties against London Irish

Rory Clegg kicked a last-gasp penalty to earn Harlequins a battling draw against London Irish and deny the Exiles a sixth straight win.

Clegg, making his first start for Quins after a summer move from Newcastle, and Irish's Ryan Lamb kicked two penalties apiece in the opening half.

It was equally tight after the break before Peter Hewat edged the visitors in front eight minutes from time.

But Clegg held his nerve to ensure a draw in the dying seconds.

Harlequins director of rugby John Kingston:

"It was tremendous for him. He is a very calm character. We believe in him hugely otherwise we wouldn't have invested the time we have in him.

"We see him as the long-term future of the club and what better way to become a great number 10 than to work alongside someone like Nick Evans. He will have learnt a huge amount here."

"Quite a few people have said that a draw was the least we deserved. It was, but I think London Irish did enough to warrant getting something as well."

London Irish head coach Toby Booth (on Steffon Armitage) :

"Steffon knew this was an opportunity to put his hand up (to Martin Johnson) and I'm sure he'll be pleased with some of the things he did, not best pleased with others.

"It was a decent game for him and he just needs to keep banging on the door - hopefully for him, one day it will open."

"On reflection, it's probably a fair result but we are disappointed because we were imprecise in a lot of areas. We didn't adapt quick enough and it became a bit of a tug-of-war."

Harlequins: Brown; Strettle, Tiesi, Mordt, Drauniniu; Clegg, So'oialo; Jones, Fuga, Andress, Percival, Robson, Robshaw, McMillan, Guest.
Replacements: Lambert for Andress (65), Brooker for So'oialo (58), Lowe for Drauniniu (58).
Not Used: Croall, Stevenson, York, Dickson, Jewell.

London Irish: Hewat; Rudd, Seveali'i, Mapusua, Tagicakibau; Lamb, Lalanne; Dermody, Coetzee, Ion, Kennedy, Casey, Stowers, S Armitage, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Richards for Tagicakibau (17), Malone for Lamb (59), Lennard for Lalanne (59), Murphy for Dermody (78), Paice for Coetzee (58), Rautenbach for Ion (59), Thorpe for Stowers (63), Roche for Hala'ufia (79).

Att: 14,282

Ref: George Clancy (RU).

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