Harlequins bounced back from defeat by Saracens to go into 2012 at the top of the Premiership with a narrow 11-9 win over Exeter Chiefs on Saturday.

The play was far from textbook but Quins had enough to do the double over the Chiefs in front of a sell-out crowd of 10,602 at Sandy Park.

The visitors had gone in to the break 8-6 in front but replacement flyhalf Gareth Steenson looked to have sealed the game six minutes from time with a 40 metre penalty.

But England Saxons flyhalf Rory Clegg, who had a nightmare of an afternoon with his kicking as he missed the target with four penalty attempts and a conversion, landed his second penalty to clinch the game three minutes from time.

Both sides went in to the game after post-Christmas defeats, with the Chiefs suffering their first loss in five games as they were beaten 29-22 at London Irish while Harlequins lost their first Premiership game of the season as they went down 19-11 to defending champions Saracens at Twickenham last week.

There was a new look to the Chiefs front row of Brett Sturgess, Neil Clark and former Quins' player John Andress, Aly Muldowney came in to the second row while the sole change among the backs saw Jason Shoemark recalled at inside centre.

Quins were without former All Black Nick Evans due to a minor injury so Clegg started at flyhalf while England's Nick Easter missed the game due to an ankle injury so Tom Guest started at No.8.

The visitors looked dangerous from the start and made the Chiefs pay for their errors with scrumhalf Danny Care taking a quick tap penalty before reaching for the line for opening try which was awarded after consultation with TMO Ed Morrison.

Clegg missed the touchline conversion and a penalty attempt from a similar position five minutes later but his opposite number Ignacio Mieres showed that he could find the target when a Chiefs catch and drive was pulled down.

But Quins continued to apply the pressure with a good break with the ball going through four pairs of hands but 10 metres from the line the pass from fullback Mike Brown went to ground midway through the half.

Clegg had another opportunity to increase the Quins advantage, with 12 minutes of the half remaining, but his kick from out on the right hit the near upright only for Mieres to put the Chiefs in front minutes later from just inside the visitors' half.

Exeter continued to take control of the game and began to pin Quins back in to their own half as half-time approached.

But the visitors' defence held firm and Clegg finally found his mark with a penalty on the stroke of half-time to give Quins an 8-6 interval lead.

The Chiefs started the second half strongly and had the upper hand in the scrums and the loose play as they forced the visitors to defend but when they did break into the Exeter half they were awarded a 25 metre penalty which Clegg saw sail past the far upright.

He had another opportunity a couple of minutes later, this time from the right, and again he failed to trouble the assistant referees.

Exeter continued to pin the visitors back into their own half with some excellent breaks.

But Exeter, when in a commanding position 20 metres form the line, choose the wrong option as scrumhalf Hayden Thomas went on the narrow side and chipped ahead for wing Gonzalo Camacho only for the ball to be collected by Quins wing Ugo Monye.

Steenson, who had been on the field for just three minutes having replaced Mieres, saw his penalty attempt from halfway fall short.

Then from 10 metres closer the assistant referees were not sure if Steenson's next effort was good.

Referee JP Doyle called on Morrison to adjudicate and he decided that the ball had gone over the bar to put the Chiefs in front with six minutes to play.

But Clegg, who had blown 14 points, restored the Quins' lead with three minutes remaining with a kick which proved decisive.

The scorers:

For Exeter:
Pens: Mieres 2, Steenson

For Harlequins:
Try: Care
Pens: Clegg

The teams:

Exeter: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Nic Sestaret, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 James Phillips, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 Richard Baxter, 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Tom Hayes (captain), 3 John Andress, 2 Neil Clark, 1 Brett Sturgess.
Replacements: 16 Simon Alcott, 17 Hoani Tui, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 Chris Bentley, 20 Tom Johnson, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Josh Tatupu.

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Danny Care, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Chris Robshaw (captain), 5 George Robson, 4 Tomas Vallejos, 3 Tim Fairbrother, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 James Johnston, 19 Pete Browne, 20 Chris York, 21 Richard Bolt, 22 Ben Urdapilleta, 23 Sam Smith.

Referee: JP Doyle