Harlequins director of rugby John Kingston was fulsome in his praise of Rory Clegg after seeing the teenage fly-half kick a last-gasp penalty to earn his side a 9-9 draw against London Irish.

Irish looked as if they were about to nick a sixth straight Guinness Premiership victory when Peter Hewat stroked over a penalty in the 72nd minute to put the visitors 9-6 up.

Yet Clegg was to have the last laugh, holding his nerve to step up and land a three-pointer from 35 metres after Steffon Armitage was adjudged to have handled illegally at a ruck.

Clegg, 19, was making his first Quins start in the Premiership following his summer move from Newcastle and he put in a mixed display at a sold-out Twickenham Stoop.

But his late coup de grace delighted Kingston, whose side have now gone four league matches unbeaten despite having 21 players unavailable for this weekend because of a mixture of injuries, suspensions and international call-ups.

"It was tremendous for him," said Kingston, who selected Clegg after first-choice fly-half Nick Evans pulled out in midweek with a calf injury.

"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 today."

In what turned into yet another Premiership war of attrition, it was always going to be a battle of the boot.

Clegg and opposite fly-half Ryan Lamb each slotted over two of their three penalty attempts in the first half as the sides went into the break locked at 6-6.

With tryscoring chances at a premium, Hewat looked to have nicked four points for Irish with a successful 72nd-minute penalty but Clegg had other ideas.

"I think justice was done," Kingston added.

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

Irish have lost ground on unbeaten leaders Saracens and Armitage can ultimately take the blame with his last-minute aberration.

However, the flanker, released by England manager Martin Johnson to play this weekend, put in a strong all-round display to further enhance the prospect of him playing at seven against Australia next Saturday.

"Steffon's had a go at a breakdown - some you get, some you don't. You have a gamble," said Toby Booth, the Exiles' head coach.

"But Steffon knew this was an opportunity to put his hand up (to Johnson) and I'm sure he'll be pleased with some of the things he did today, 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."

Booth, who revealed star winger Sailosi Tagicakibau came off in the 17th minute after "rolling his ankle", added: "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."