Former South Africa head coach Jake White said his Fiji side "did Ireland a favour" in Saturday's Nations Championship contest before the Irish face the Springboks in Dublin next week.
Fiji lost 43-15 to Ireland at Aviva Stadium having frustrated Andy Farrell's side during a closely contested first half.
While Ireland scored 26 unanswered points in the second half, White - who led South Africa to World Cup glory in 2007 - said Andy Farrell's team cannot afford similarly sluggish spells against the back-to-back world champions.
"Well, I think we probably did Ireland a favour today," the 62-year-old said.
"Let me put it that way, because I think Ireland deep down know that if they play like that against South Africa, they're gonna be up against it."
Ireland shake off sluggish start to brush aside Fiji
White, who was appointed Fiji boss last month, was frustrated that his side opted to take a tap penalty instead of a scrum when the game was in the balance.
"I know how South Africa operate and they would've taken that scrum there, they would have backed the fact that they wanted to get [Ireland] a yellow card," said White.
"They would have taken another scrum and another scrum and another scrum, and they wouldn't have worried about the ref making a call about…
