The Western Force are confident of completing a clean sweep of their upcoming three-match Super 14 tour to South Africa after upsetting the Crusaders in Perth on Friday night.

A gut-busting 75m run from reserve hooker Nathan Charles helped lift the Force to the 24-16 victory, the Perth club's first ever win over the Crusaders.

The Force have won three of their past four games and round out the season with matches against the Lions, Cheetahs and Sharks.

Coach John Mitchell said it was important to finish off the season strongly after starting the campaign with six straight losses.

"I think the next three weeks are extremely important for us in terms of taking momentum into next year," Mitchell said.

"With this being a new group. Some 12 players have been introduced into the program this year and we've used 38 players, so grabbing belief about the way we like playing and using this template to go forward will augur well.

"It's a very special moment to beat the Crusaders because you don't get them all the time.

"It's an important step for us.

"We want to create a winning culture. "We've always been after this scalp and we've always had fantastic fixtures against the Crusaders.

"It's important for our young guys ... they need to reflect on and gain belief from what we've done tonight." Skipper Nathan Sharpe said the team had the belief they could win their remaining three games of the season.

"We are going over with high hopes," Sharpe said. "They're not finals hopes but they're hopes to win all three games." The Force trailed the Crusaders 13-0 at half-time but shot to the lead courtesy of tries to Ben Whittaker and Pek Cowan.

A Dan Carter drop goal edged the Crusaders ahead 16-14 with 12 minutes to go but Charles' run, which started deep inside his own 22m and ended just 10m from the try line, allowed Matt Hodgson to cross for the winning points.

"It was a special run by a hooker ... but it's very hard to pick out individuals, that was a terrific team effort," Mitchell said.

The Crusaders started the round on top of the table.

But the loss leaves their finals hopes precariously placed with tough fixtures against the Stormers (away), Bulls (away) and Brumbies (home) to round out the season.

"We've still got an opportunity," Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder said.

"There are some great teams ahead of us and we are excited about that, we've just got to tidy up a couple of key areas in our game and then we'll be back.

"In this competition if you're not quite on your game you get beaten.

"Everyone gets beaten, it happens to all the sides.

"Tonight we didn't play well enough to win.

"But the Stormers and the Bulls, they are two good sides but we are capable of beating those sides.

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