Akihito Yamada© Lionel Ng/Getty Images for Japan Sunwolves

Singapore welcomed Super Rugby for the first time on Saturday, and the crowd was treated to a 63-point spectacle that featured moments of genuine attacking brilliance as the Cheetahs defeated the Sunwolves 32-31 to deny the Japanese franchise its maiden victory.

The teams combined to score eight tries, with Japan winger Akihito Yamada claiming a hat-trick and Cheetahs fly-half Daniel Marais bagging a brace.

The Sunwolves' Samoa fly-half played a key role in two of Yamada's tries, setting up the second with a daring cross-field kick-pass from a tap penalty taken deep within their own territory and the third with a break and a smart inside ball back across his body to put the winger over the stripe under the sticks.

Much as those tries, and the combined 13 linebreaks entertained the crowd, the teams were each responsible at times for porous defence that was breached way too easily.

And for all the attacking intent with ball in hand, the irony was lost on no-one that the Cheetahs scored the match-winning try from a driving maul with less than 10 minutes to play, Boom Prinsloo touching down for his 14th career Super Rugby try after the Sunwolves had been reduced to 14 men when Australian back-rower Ed Quirk had been sin-binned for collapsing a maul with the Japanese side on a team warning for repeat infringements.

That try marked the first time the Cheetahs had led the contest, with Yamada having put the Sunwolves ahead with the first of his three tries in the third minute, but it was the least they deserved for their dominance of the second half - in which they spent a majority of time encamped inside the Sunwolves' 22 having trailed 28-13 at the interval.

Cheetahs captain Francois Venter was "very pleased with the result ... it's our first win and we really worked hard to get this".

Venter said the Sunwolves had "really put us under pressure in the first half ... they surprised us with a few tricks in the first half, but every week we're going to learn and come back better".

Sunwolves captain Shota Horie said "second half we did stop working, the workrate dropped".