Force 36 Highlanders 28

It wasn't pretty and centre Ryan Cross admitted it may have been lucky, but the Western Force are in the Super 14 top four after beating the Highlanders 36-28 in Queenstown.

Just as they did last week in their breakthrough win over the Blues, the Force strangled their Kiwi opposition in the final 20 minutes, scoring 16 unanswered points to record a fourth away win.

And despite some controversial calls from referee Mark Lawrence, including his decision to deny a legitimate Scott Staniforth try, an intercept by Cross and a perfect kicking display from Matt Giteau and Cameron Shepherd won the game for the Force.

"We were pretty confident coming into this game, but we knew how desperate the Highlanders would be," Cross said. "We got away with it, and it was pretty lucky in the end."

Tries to young lock Tom Hockings and Richard Brown gave the Force a 17-13 lead at the break, but Paul Williams and Fetu'u Vainikolo both crossed in the second half to hand the home side a 28-20 advantage with 18 minutes to play.

The Force should have narrowed that margin but Staniforth's lunge to the line was ruled illegal, despite tackler Hoani MacDonald letting go of the winger as he scrambled over.

However, Cross took advantage of another strange ruling from Lawrence, who prematurely ended a Highlanders advantage following a knock-on, by latching onto a loose pass and sprinting 40 metres to the try line.

Three penalties then sealed the game for the Force.