Connacht, still lording it over the rest as undisputed leaders of the Guinness PRO12 table with four rounds to go, are on the verge of qualifying for next season's Champions' Cup. Under Lam, whose solitary non-Test appearance for New Zealand preceded his career as captain of Samoa, anything is possible.
An away win over Ulster in Belfast on Friday night allied to a home success for Leinster over Munster in Dublin on Saturday afternoon would remove any mathematical doubt about Connacht's entry among Europe's 20-strong elite.
Doing so, after the heartache of last season when a late Gloucester try brought them down at the penultimate play-off hurdle, will mean achieving the main objective agreed by Lam and his squad last summer.
Now that they are almost there, Connacht can adjust their sights to goals of positively stratospheric dimension for a province where mere survival had long been the name of their game. Eoin McKeon, Galway born and Galway bred whose pulverising power in the tackle typified Connacht's defiance of Leinster in Galway last week, summed it up to perfection: ''It's onwards and upwards from here.''
Onwards and upwards to finishing the regulation season top of the heap and clinching a home play-off ? Onwards and upwards all the way to the Guinness PRO12 Final at BT Murrayfield ?
In a competition fraught with all manner of hazards, the one certainty about Connacht is that they will not be tempting fate by looking any further than the next game. That it happens to be Ulster will ensure the leaders make the journey from west to north east with no shortage of motivation.
In 12 home matches this season, Connacht have swept all before them with the notable exception of Ulster on Boxing Day. Nick Williams did the trick with the only try of the match, enough for a 10-3 win just six days before Connacht lost again, 13-0 to Leinster at the RDS Arena.
Having avenged that setback last week to the delight of neutrals everywhere as well as the vast majority among a sell-out crowd of 7,300, they now have the chance to settle another score on Friday evening. That Ulster have left themselves no further room for error after three defeats in four matches underlines the sense of occasion.
Connacht have already broken just about every record in their book, not least the one for the most successive wins - six and counting. Ulster will pose another severe test of the unyielding spirit illustrated by the towering tackle counts of McKeon and John Muldoon against Leinster last week. The back row pair made 42 between them, thereby ensuring that every Leinster threat to counter Kieran Marmion's early converted try came to grief against an iron curtain of green.
Leinster's failure to score a try in successive trips to Galway and Glasgow makes their annual collision with Munster at the Aviva Stadium all the more crucial, for both teams. Ticket sales point towards the attendance topping the 43,817 for the corresponding fixture last season when Munster did the double over their ancient rivals.
This time round the boot appears to be on the other foot. Tries from Isa Nacewa, Jack McGrath and Zane Kirchner eased Leinster home 24-7 at a packed Thomond Park immediately after Munster had lost back-to-back European ties against Leicester in December.
If they are to make the play-offs, Munster know that only a repeat of last season's win in Dublin will lift them to within striking distance of Leinster, seven points better off in second place.
The Warriors have served further notice that they have no intention of relinquishing their title as Guinness PRO12 champions. They looked every inch the part in coming from behind against Ulster at Scotstoun last week, fly-half Finn Russell engineering two tries in as many minutes.
Two of his Scotland team-mates, Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour, took full advantage to ensure they made a real impact on their return from the RBS 6 Nations. As if to show there is nothing he cannot do these days, Hogg nailed a penalty from inside his own half with the last kick of the match to strip Ulster of a losing bonus point.
After five straight wins, the Warriors will expect to make it six at Treviso, the first leg of an Italian double with their game in hand against Zebre to be played in Parma on Friday week.
Scarlets, jubilant after a rare win in Swansea over the Ospreys, plunge straight into another Welsh derby on Saturday, at home to the resurgent Blues. The capital region make the journey west as the Guinness PRO12's top try scorers, eight against Treviso at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park last week raising their tally to 51 - one more than Connacht.
Ospreys, down to ninth after three straight defeats, attempt to stop the rot on Friday night at Rodney Parade. The Dragons have lost their last three home matches by one point against Edinburgh (15-16), three against the Warriors (15-18) and five against Connacht (21-26).
Winning streaks going into Round 19:
Connacht 6, Warriors 5, Blues 2, Scarlets 2.
Losing runs:
Dragons 6, Zebre 6, Ospreys 3, Benetton Treviso 3, Leinster 2.
Since a home defeat:
Leinster 11, Scarlets 3.
Since a home win:
Dragons 2.
Since an away defeat:
Connacht 3.
Since an away win:
Zebre 3, Blues 2, Ospreys 2.
Highest single match attendance per club this season :
25,600 Munster (v Leinster, December 27)
23,462 Edinburgh (v Warriors, December 27)
17,211 Ulster (v Munster, January 2)
15,552 Leinster (v Ulster, November 27)
14,568 Scarlets (v Ospreys, December 26)
12,051 Ospreys (v Scarlets, March 26)
11,720 Blues (v Scarlets, January 1)
8,226 Dragons (v Blues, December 27)
8,000 Warriors (v Edinburgh, January 2)
7,300 Connacht (v Leinster, March 26)
5,000 Benetton Treviso (v Zebre, January 3)
4,509 Zebre (v Benetton Treviso, December 27)
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