I'd be interested to see which teams are actually doing this the most, and in which situations. I reckon if we did it in the first 5 minutes it's a bit too conservative, but when holding a lead late it is something lots of teams do. Sharks last night were just winding down the clock for much of the second half with kicks to corners, and this type of play.
It worked nicely in game where they were leading 20-0 at halftime and there wasn't really much need to be expansive. That is game management. It shows that Brailey (and others) are getting better at playing the right way at the right time. If they are running that play down 20-zip, I would have been screaming at the TV.
