Northern hemisphere sides have been written off here after the opening weekend. Atrocious and appalling are two of the milder adjectives that have been used to describe the performances of England, France, Ireland and Scotland, but South Africa's former Bath fly-half, Butch James, on Wednesday warned against making premature judgments.

The European teams also started slowly in 2007, a consequence of going into the World Cup without having played competitive rugby for more than five months, only for England and France to down Australia and New Zealand respectively in the quarter-finals.

"The European sides will be right up there when it matters," said James, who left Bath at the end of last season to join the Lions. "They all won at the weekend, apart from Wales who played really well against us, and that is what counts.

"Wales came out fighting and gave us a great battle. Northern hemisphere teams will be involved until the end and what needs to be remembered in a World Cup is that what matters is not how you win but that you do so. We were not at our best against Wales, but we came from behind to win.

"England did not have their best game on Saturday. Like us, they were trailing by six points in the final quarter but they finished by beating a good Argentina side. They will take playing badly and winning any day. The mentality in the World Cup is that you win and move on to the next game."

James believes England and South Africa – the finalists in 2007 – will be at their most dangerous in the knockout stage when risk-free rugby is at a premium. "The longer the competition goes on the tighter it will get and the more boring it will become," he said. "Teams will do whatever it takes not to lose, but you also have to appreciate that Australia and New Zealand are two sides who know how to win."

James, who played in the 2007 final, said he was surprised to be involved in this year's tournament having envisaged finishing his career with Bath a couple of seasons ago. He is now used as a reserve by the Springboks, their one back who has the capacity to play catch-up rugby.

"I thought that was it for me after the 2007 World Cup," said the 32-year old. "It was only last year, when I got back into the mix with the Springbok squad, that I thought I had a chance of making it to New Zealand. I think my time with Bath helped me, but I also had a couple of long-term injuries that prolonged my career.

"I am delighted to be involved. It was a big defensive effort in 2007 and that will be the challenge again. It was our defence that helped us see off Wales, who came at us hard but other areas of our game need to improve and we will face a different challenge from Fiji this weekend."

South Africa will be without three of their 2007 finalists against Fiji here. The second-rows Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield are unlikely to be fit until the final round of group matches and they have been joined on the sidelines by the wing Bryan Habana, who suffered a knee injury against Wales.