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@Bobbo
^^The initial reasoning behind it was to make the game more of a spectacle. Once they started down that route no one had the balls to go against the grain and now you have what we do now. I would however say that the difference in attitude between NH and SH teams at scrum time is huge.
SH teams do not have the same problem that we do here, both sides do everything that they can to win the ball fairly as they are less reliant on a territory game and are willing to attack from anywhere. They see it as an opportunity to win ball while keeping at least 5 players bogged down and giving the backs a chance to run in space.
Many teams in the NH see it as an opportunity to win a cheap penalty and will appeal to the referee continually (something also needs to be done about this as the only player on a team to talk directly to the ref should be the captain) a good example of this is the soft engage that Wales won penalties from against Scotland. Wales were late to engage and tricked the ref into thinking that Scotland had gone early. Wales have by far and away the most street wise front row, however a soft engage would also neutralise this.