Relieved Springboks coach Jake White rubbed salt into the Wallabies' and All Blacks' wounds after South Africa escaped a Rugby World Cup boilover of their own.

White claimed the Boks were mentally stronger and had better on-field leadership to handle the sudden-death pressure than eliminated Tri Nations rivals Australia and New Zealand.

At 20-all with 20 minutes left after the Fijians scored back-to-back tries despite being reduced to 14 men, the rattled Springboks were in serious danger of becoming the third southern hemisphere powerhouse bundled out in the quarter-finals.

But a last-ditch JP Pietersen tackle in the left corner on lock Ifereimi Rawaqa turned the thrilling match for South Africa and they finished over the top of Fiji to win 37-20 in Marseille.

White, assisted by former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, praised his senior players ability to respond to the challenge.

"We had a lesson yesterday but not at our expense," White said.

"There was enough there for both those teams (Australia and New Zealand) to win those Test matches.

"People can be critical and say 'you're lucky and you should have been beaten by Fiji who should have scored in the corner'.

"Well yesterday England beat Australia and France beat New Zealand and I'd much rather be where I am today than where those two countries are today."

White highlighted the efforts of his inspirational skipper, hooker John Smit.

In a swipe at the likes of Stirling Mortlock and Richie McCaw, he claimed the Wallabies and All Blacks lacked such leadership.

"I thought the captaincy today was outstanding ... and the leadership of the senior players was outstanding," he said.

"With 20 minutes left to go that game could have fallen apart and the captain took charge.

"If you compare what happened yesterday and what happened today there's no doubt the one difference is senior players in the last 20 minutes put their hands up.

"There's no preparation for pressure.

"It just showed that certain players and certain teams can handle pressure a lot better and I'm just thankful that I'm sitting here as a coach whose team could handle it.

South Africa, beaten by the Wallabies and All Blacks in their final three Tri-Nations matches this season, now enter the semi-finals as title favourites.

The No.3-ranked Springboks will play Argentina in Paris on Sunday while England meet host nation France on Saturday.

Fiji's efforts in fighting back from 20-6 down with 14 men through spectacular tries to wingers Vilimoni Delasau and Sereli Bobo was a testament to their attacking brilliance.

Skipper Mosese Rauluni, a Brisbane rugby product, starred in the halves with Seremaia Bai.

Rauluni said his team drew inspiration from unpredicatable France's 20-18 upset of the All Blacks.

"They're a bigger version of us," he said. "I don;t think they know what they're doing either."

Both Rauluni and coach and former Wallabies flanker Ilie Tabua felt it was crucial to the rising island nations to gain more Tests against heavyweight teams as well as gain admission to the Super 14.

AAP