Two days after Christmas Leicester played Harlequins on a bitingly cold day at Twickenham. It ended in a 26–26 draw between, seemingly, two mid-table sides. A fortnight earlier a couple of missed penalties by Dan Carter in Perpignan were required to sneak the Tigers a losing bonus point and nourish their Heineken Cup pool hopes. Leicester's appetite for hard work could not obscure the fact they were scuffling through the winter mud, resembling also-rans rather than champions.

And now? Victory over Cardiff Blues tomorrow would hoist Leicester's revitalised players into a Heineken Cup final. Six days later they will seek a place in the Guinness Premiership grand final at Bath's expense. It just shows how far determination and character can get you. Counting back over the past five league seasons, 2008-09 included, they have finished first, fourth, second, second and first respectively. They have won only two trophies, the Premiership crown and EDF Energy Cup in 2007, but this has never been a club which deals in honourable failure.

Above all they hate losing. They are not so much top dogs as pedigree mongrels, forever up for the scrap regardless of who coaches them. According to those who know they also bear comparison with the rugby world's most successful outfits such as the Crusaders of Canterbury, the serial Super 14 winners. "The guys are very hard-working and don't really worry about individual accolades," nods Aaron Mauger, the All Black centre who has ­reinvented himself as a key midfield cog for the Tigers. "It's a pretty similar ethos to the Crusaders and it's one of the things that enticed me to come to Leicester. They have the same high standards and, above all else, you're in there for the team."

It is fascinating to hear Mauger's view on any number of subjects. Time will tell but, in his own quiet way, he is proving as valuable a signing as the Tigers' previous southern hemisphere midfield maestro, Pat Howard. "He's brought an extra dimension, the way he plays and the way he conducts himself," confirms the Tigers' captain, Martin Corry. "Having someone of that knowledge in the 12 role is crucial to us."

Mauger, 28, whose uncle Ivan was the speedway world champion, would never make such lofty claims on his own behalf but four Super 12 and 14 titles with the Crusaders in 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2006 constitute a CV which even the Blues own influential trio of Kiwis – Ben Blair, Paul Tito and Xavier Rush – cannot match.

Only two other men – Rod Kafer and Doug Howlett – have previously enjoyed a Super 12/14 and Heineken Cup title double but the names which crop up in conversation with Mauger are the likes of Todd Blackadder and Daryl Gibson, the long-serving Crusaders who laid the foundations upon which his old team's consistent success was based. Their modus operandi sounds uncannily like a red-and-black version of the familiar, tight-knit Leicester blueprint.

"We put in a lot of hard work together, guys were really good mates and we were like an extended family. I know a lot of teams say that but it truly was a special bond. You really valued the jersey and wanted to fight for it. Guys would turn up to training enthused and give it everything. You learnt to depend on those guys when you went into battle."

Furthermore, with Carter commanding the baton, the Crusaders were never a one-dimensional side, just as Leicester have lately striven to broaden their attacking game regardless of the occasion. With players like Scott Hamilton, another former All Black, and his new mate Geordan Murphy, a midweek supper guest at the Mauger family home in a village south of Leicester, lurking further out, it makes no sense to ignore them.

If there is one thing the 48-times capped centre still finds alien about many English players it is their instinctive response at times of stress. "There's a big emphasis in the northern hemisphere on being big, strong and physical but sometimes the skill side is neglected. It's starting to be acknowledged now that there is a growing gap between the hemispheres and that it needs addressing. When you come under pressure in big games you go back to what you know. What people know in New Zealand is to go out and express themselves and Australians are the same. Guys here are more physically confident, so they rely more on that side of it."

Tomorrow's encounter, either way, will test Mauger's modestly sized frame when he is summoned from the bench. For the past month he has been struggling with a nerve problem which caused him to lose the feeling in his right leg and necessitated treatment in Germany at the clinic run by the celebrated Dr Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. "I was a little bit concerned but it was good to get the specialist opinions of guys in that field. They inject a whole lot of needles into the muscles to help them relax and protect the nerve. I've got a lot of the feeling back."

Now all that remains is for Leicester to renew acquaintance with the silver polish. Mauger predicts they will at least give the Blues a run for their money. "It is a long season but we've been confident the whole way through. When people write you off and other teams don't respect you as much as they should, that's when we've been dangerous. We've always had a belief we could be in this position. Across the board guys are coming into form and the team's synergy is really good." Synergy? They never called it that when the head coach, Richard Cockerill, was a player.

A brace of finals would, nevertheless, be a remarkable achievement for a club which has seen two head coaches – Marcelo Loffreda and Heyneke Meyer – come and go in the past 18 months.

It says much for the players' mental strength and Mauger sees no reason why victory cannot be secured on two fronts. "We're definitely capable of backing up. We've got a lot of big-game players who know how to step up and do the job. It's a matter of getting out there and not freezing." When the time comes to mix the classic sporting cocktail – fire in the belly, ice in the veins – few do it better.