Springboks captain John Smit led his team into the last four

Fiji played some dazzling rugby to recover from 20-6 down and level at 20-20 before South Africa pulled away.

"Some of our players are 20 years old and they looked like it," said White.

"But the senior players put their hands up and I thought their leadership was outstanding. With 20 minutes to go, we could have fallen apart."

South Africa are the bookmakers' favourites to win the tournament for the first time since 1995 following the surprise exits of New Zealand and Australia.

And White said Fiji's inspired second-half burst should not mask a professional display by his own side.

606: DEBATE No-one ever said that it was going to be a walkover but a 17-point win is still pretty emphatic up_and_under

"We can't forget it was the quarter-final of the World Cup and we scored five tries to two," said White.

"At the end of day we're going into the next round, we're in the last four and we've got no injuries."

Nevertheless, White conceded that his side had left themselves with plenty of room for improvement for next week's semi-final.

"We didn't play as well we could have done, we know that, but we have still got a chance to win the World Cup," he said.

"But I would much rather be where I am today than where New Zealand and Australia are.

"Fiji are a really good rugby team. They offload in the tackles, they break tackles and defensively they are very strong. To score five tries against them is a huge positive.

South Africa captain John Smit was also a relieved man after his side's 37-20 victory in Marseille.

"We didn't want to allow them into the game and when we played in their half, everything went well for us," he said.

"We are quite happy we got out alive today, especially looking at the other results this weekend.

"Fiji came out at us and at 20-20 I thought I didn't want to be in that position with only a couple of minutes to go.

"But there were still 20 minutes left and we put ourselves into a position to get back into their 22.

The nation will be proud, they'll be partying like we won Fiji captain Mosese Rauluni

"The priority was to get through but we made life difficult for ourselves. We knew Fiji were solid and well organised, with a couple of great runners. Their skills are top-class."

Fiji enjoyed their best ever World Cup tournament despite the defeat, and their captain Mosese Rauluni said he could have asked for nothing more from his team-mates.

"All I asked of the boys was to give it their all and I am so proud of the way they played," said Rauluni.

"We came here with nothing to lose and they had all the pressure on them and we forced them to make mistakes.

"There were quite a lot of South Africans there but the French, English and Australians were all cheering for us and they really drowned the South Africans out and it was very inspirational for us.

"We had two upset results yesterday and we were hoping for another one today but it wasn't to be.

"A few little mistakes changed the game. It was a great effort. We knew we were finding holes in their defence but we couldn't finish them off.

"It's been a great ride and the road stops here, but hopefully for Fiji rugby we get the development in and we can play consistently with the tier one nations.

"The nation will be proud, they'll be partying like we won."