Pierre Schoeman compared being a foreign-born Lion to the film Outlander and likened it to getting a job working for a big four finance company only with a greater cultural pull.

Scottish prop Schoeman, 31, was born and raised in South Africa before qualifying for his adopted nation on residency after joining Edinburgh in 2018, becoming a ‘Jock Bok’ in 2021 when he made his international debut.

Read more: Lions team for Western Force game announced

Eight players in Andy Farrell’s squad were born outside of Britain and Ireland which has led to criticism in some quarters. Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt even referred to the Lions’ “southern hemisphere centre pairing” of Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu against Argentina – ironic given the former Ireland boss capped New Zealand-born Aki in the first place.

Speaking in Perth ahead of starting Saturday’s opening game in Australia against the Western Force, Schoeman was quick to dismiss the idea that those, like James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park, who had moved their lives across the world had any less right to be a Lion.

The loosehead said: “If you’re good enough to play for your country, and then you’re good enough to play for the Lions, and you’re selected, obviously you’re going to do that.

“It’s massive (to play for the Lions). Scotland is home for us, my wife and myself. I know other players as well, like Mack Hansen has made Ireland home. You embrace that. You fully take that on. It’s like the movie Outlander. You move to a different country, and now that’s your house. You live there.

“If you work for one of the big four in finance, you get the opportunity, you’re going to go for them. And you can really make that home. But this is much different. You buy into the culture. And now to represent the British and Irish Lions, you fully buy into that.

“You fully submerge into that. Nothing else matters. Not your past, not the future. It’s about the now. Kahlil Gibran says it in one of his books quite well, and that is, ‘Yesterday is gone forever, tomorrow might never come, now is the time to live.’ That’s what we do as Lions. It’s about the now, this tour. This is what really matters.”

Schoeman, who makes his own whisky with fellow South African-Scot and Lion Duhan van der Merwe, revealed his snoring has seen him churn through the room-mates with both Tommy Freeman and Hugo Keenan having to put up with his noisy sleeping habits so far.

“The wingers couldn’t handle the snoring anymore so they put me with Dan Sheehan. He was okay with the snoring, but they had to put me with Finlay Bealham now. We can speak a lot about Vikings things.”

Schoeman describes the Lions as like a viking ship where warring men come together to build as a team and everyone has their job to do. “There’s no space for dead weight on this team, everyone has to push in the same direction.”

A popular character in the squad – his interview is interrupted by loud shouts of “Schoooo” from his new team-mates – Schoeman is relishing the competition for the No 1 jersey with England’s Ellis Genge and Ireland’s Andrew Porter.

“It’s a very healthy, competitive (relationship with Genge). Even with Porter now, we push each other, you know, every training session, every match. Genge had an amazing game (v Argentina), he’s an amazing bloke, amazing player, very experienced and also, you know, captain quality.

“That’s so good because we’re competitive in the gym. We’re competitive with everything, even jokes and banter. Who can stay in the ice bath the longest, but Porter as well. And that can really rub off and that’s sharpening your swords or your axes together, really collectively for the team.”

Related: What happened the last time the Lions played the Western Force

Schoeman was full of fun facts about Perth, relaying how not only is it named after the Perth in Scotland but that it’s the most remote city in the world and is closer to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta than the other Australian cities the Lions will be visiting.

You do feel slightly out of the action out West and rugby’s position as a minority sport in these parts came clearly into view when some of the kids attending the school the Lions trained at on Wednesday failed to name any of the players.

However, a bumper crowd of more than 40,000 is expected at Optus Stadium and there will be similar numbers of Lions fans travelling over in the coming weeks. Schoeman knows his side owe it to them to emerge victorious and claim back-to-back series wins against the Wallabies after the heroics of Warren Gatland’s men in 2013.

“You have to feel the responsibility of 50,000 and more fans coming to Australia. So you have a massive obligation and responsibility. It’s not focusing on what’s ahead. It’s about now. We are the selected guys, management, players in this team to make it happen.”

It starts in earnest on Saturday.

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