Irish held by Quins

Rory Clegg's last minute penalty earned Harlequins a draw against London Irish after a dour, try-less contest at the Twickenham Stoop.

All the points in the match came from penalty goals, as title-chasing Irish were denied a sixth straight victory.

Before Clegg's late leveller, Clegg and Irish's Ryan Lamb had each stroked over two first-half penalties before Peter Hewat edged the visitors 9-6 in front with a three-pointer in the 72nd minute.

The result means Quins stretch their unbeaten run in the league to four games but Irish lost a great opportunity to stay on the coat-tails of unbeaten leaders Saracens.

Clegg, making his first start for Quins since his summer move from Newcastle, booted the Quins in front with a fourth-minute penalty.

The 19-year-old then traded penalty misses with Lamb before the Exiles fly-half levelled the scores with his first of the afternoon, in the 16th minute.

Irish were dealt a major blow when Sailosi Tagicakibau hobbled off with an ankle injury.

Peter Richards - a scrum-half by trade but increasingly used as a utility back nowadays - came on in place of Tagicakibau and he saw Lamb put Irish ahead with a 25th-minute penalty.

Clegg restored parity with his second three-pointer, eight minutes before the break, but there were still a distinct lack of tryscoring opportunities with both defences proving obdurate.

The second half was just as tight and it became increasingly obvious that it would remain a battle of the boot.

Clever chip

Clegg's let him down in the 50th minute when he pushed wide a penalty that had been awarded following his own clever chip behind the Irish defence.

Lamb was then short with a penalty attempt from just inside his own half and Irish were soon relying on the superb covering defence of Steffon Armitage to keep Quins at bay.

Mike Brown made a searing break through the left channel, leaving Alfredo Lalanne in his wake, and the England full-back looked destined for a try when he ran onto his chip over Hewat. Armitage, though, stole in to grab the ball in front of Brown and avert the danger.

A raft of substitutions from both sides led to the match becoming even more fractured, and the two teams continued to make sloppy handling errors that halted a number of potentially promising attacks.

Hewat stepped up just when it mattered, though. When Quins were pinged for not rolling away at a ruck, the Australian took over kicking duties with Lamb having been replaced.

Hewat nonchalantly slotted his penalty straight between the posts from 40 metres but with a minute to go, Clegg booted over his third penalty of the afternoon to earn Quins a share of the points.