For that very specific regexp, yes. That's the simplification to which I alluded. I'll repeat the reason I didn't post the simplification

It's much safer to assume there's always the possibility of backtracking through any (?{...}). That's why $^R is used.

It's too easy to miss a case where backtracking can occur.

For example,
/ $text (?: \s (\w+) (?{ push @matches, $^N }) ){2,} / is wrong.
/ $text (?: \s (\w+) (?{ push @matches, $^N }) )+ ... / is wrong.
/ $text (?: \s (\w+) (?{ push @matches, $^N }) ... )+ / is wrong.