Let's compare the potential crowds this weekend to the 2013 World Cup quarter final crowds:
Australia v USA, Wrexham, Wales - 5,762
New Zealand v Scotland, Leeds, England - 16,207
England v France, Wigan, England - 22,276
Samoa v Fiji, Warrington, England - 12,766
You would think that New Zealand v Fiji in New Zealand could match New Zealand v Scotland in England. Hopefully a walk-up crowd brings us up to around that 16k mark (I've seen a PAX above for 11k or so)
Australia v Samoa: The venue for this game is a shame because this could have sold out at Penrith at around 22k but I understand that the guaranteed dollars from the NT Gov are what will deliver the profits in this tournament. This one could have matched the England v France crowd though.
England v PNG in Australia was never going to match England v France in England but hopefully this can get up around the 12.7k mark that Samoa and Fiji pulled four years ago.
Tonga v Lebanon: Tonga has a lot of momentum bit I'm not sure what to expect from Christchurch this weekend. I don't really know what the Tongan population is like in that city or whether the Tongan supporters will travel from other parts of NZ to surely see them take their place in a World Cup semi-final. I think it will comfortably beat Australia v Wales though.
So if Tonga can somehow pull 15k, NZ 16k, England 12k and Australia sell-out in Darwin we could go close to matching the pretty impressive quarter final crowds from the last world cup plus have the addition of much better TV ratings.