Clearly I'm a league man and have sent many days converting my union friends but I played Union for a long time and can appreciate the game, especially the forwards.
There is a lot to learn in rugby league from union.
Those phases are all about forcing a mistake. They are not trying to get yards, they are trying to commit players to the ruck so that there is a space elsewhere.
A good scrum half will know when the time is right to move it.
No different to a league prop running it down the middle at waiting tackles. He isn't making yards he's trying to tie them in and get a quick ptb so there are gaps elsewhere.
The game is too complex in some ways as, like you say, they can have a penalty for anything, but equally they don't fuss with technicalities that we do. A knock on in league is judged to a nanometre. They judge it in metres to just let the game flow.
Union supporters think league is stop start because of all the play the balls. In union, the forward play is slower but they don't actually stop the game to recycle the ball.
It's what you get used to.