Townsend, who made 14 changes for the match at Murrayfield, took a positive view of Scotland’s 42-28 defeat to Pretoria last weekend.
“Probably the most important element was how resilient we were when we fell behind twice,” he said.
“But there were moments when we lost concentration a couple of times in attack and a couple of times in defense.
“When you play the best teams in the world, and South Africa are the best team in the world at the moment, those little moments can cost you a lot and they did that at the weekend.”
Fiji scored three tries in a 39–24 defeat to Wales and then lost 73–8 to England in the opening games of the Nations Championship.
“We know this opposition,” Townsend added. “They may not be the number one team in the world, but if you shut them down they are probably the most dangerous team in the world.
“And the switch-off isn’t right in front of you, it could be 50 yards away because Fiji can move the ball and they can run over their line and suddenly you think you’re not going to be involved.”