Competition for spots will be white hot within the Western Force ranks next week after the Perth-based franchise's stirring 21-14 Super Rugby triumph over the Highlanders in Dunedin on Friday night.

The Force, minus backline stars James O'Connor, Cameron Shepherd, Brett Sheehan and Willie Ripia, piled on 18 unanswered points in the second half to turn a 3-14 deficit into a 21-14 win, with winger David Smith scoring a brace of tries.

Force coach Richard Graham said he expected O'Connor (neck/shoulder), Sheehan (leg), Gene Fairbanks (leg) and Ripia (calf) to be available for Saturday's home clash with Queensland Reds, while Shepherd will be further assessed after straining his hamstring on Thursday.

But finding room for the returning players will prove to be a tricky task.

Reserve scrumhalf James Stannard has been sensational filling in at five-eighth for the past two games, while fellow fringe players Alfie Mafi, Pat Dellit, Mark Swanepoel and Rory Sidey have also put in strong performances.

Winger Nick Cummins started on the bench against the Highlanders after a heavy workload this season and is another player set to come into calculations for a starting berth against the Reds.

"What we've wanted to create was competition," Graham said.

"I thought Alfie Mafi was very good for us (on Friday). So the competition for spots is there for us."

Graham hoped Shepherd's hamstring injury wasn't serious.

"We'll have to access that," Graham said.

"From talking to our medical staff, the knee injury (he had recently) put a fair bit of pressure on the hamstring on the other side and he's ended up with a mild strain at training (on Thursday)."

Smith, who will leave the Force at the end of the season to link up with French club Toulon, was superb against the Highlanders, with his 55m runaway try in the 74th minute proving to be the matchwinner.

"I think what we might do the next time we sign him is we'll play every week here in New Zealand," Graham joked after Smith's second straight excellent showing on NZ soil.

The Force lost to the Reds by one point in the season opener and Graham said his charges were eager to make amends in next week's rematch.

"It is going to be a good match because it's a derby. We felt we put a good performance in against them in the first round but unfortunately we didn't get a reward for it," he said.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP