I am still at a loss to understand why this is thought to be of benefit to the game.
Let me preface my comments below with:
1. I am not an advocate either for or against this ruling, and
2. as such I have no interest in entering into an argument.
Back in the day a player could run or pass the ball back into his 22 and then kick the ball out for a gain ground.
The powers that be decided that this led to overly negative defensive play so 2 changes were made at various times:
1. player was prohibited from running ball into his own 22 and benefiting from gain in ground, and
2. player was prohibited from passing ball into his own 22 and benefiting from gain in ground.
We saw the same type of thing in soccer. A ball passed back to the goal keeper can't be picked up.
The principle here then is this: a player is not able to benefit by playing negatively and putting the ball back into his/her own 22.
So the question here is this: is a defender who picks up the ball in touch 15 metres from his own goal line and takes a QTI breaking the principle outlined above?
I'll leave readers to come to their own answer.
Like it or not, that is the logic.