South Africa tight-head prop CJ van der Linde could still be fit for Sunday's World Cup quarter-final against Fiji, Springbok coach Jake White has confirmed.

Van der Linde was ruled out of the match on Tuesday after bruising a knee in training. White said he expected replacement Jannie du Plessis to go straight into the team.

"He got a bit of a strain and it's just seeing how quickly he recovers," said White. "It's about time now - he has got a rehab programme and the doc and physio will work on him.

"We've got (a possible) three games left in the competition and we'll see if we might be able to get away without risking him if Jannie slots in.

"We shouldn't be blinded to the fact that we've got three games to go in the competition if all goes to plan and next week we could be facing Argentina who back their scrum and we'll need our strongest tighthead.

"It's a big call and it's a call that we'll have to sit down and think about but, luckily, we've got a couple of days to think about it."

Du Plessis arrives Thursday - 24 hours later than expected because of paperwork involved in securing a visa.

His brother, hooker Bismarck du Plessis, missed training on Tuesday because of a back injury but he remains in contention for Sunday's match.

Reuters