Although still not quite firing as they would wish, Norwich did at least return to winning ways against Wymondham in the first round of the Norfolk Cup.

Norwich, who play two leagues higher in the rugby union pyramid, opened the scoring after seven minutes when a flowing backs move took the ball out towards the left wing, followed by another to the right involving several forwards as well.

Winger Jonny Wheater outpaced the cover to score in the right-hand corner and with the difficult conversion beings missed the visitors led 5-0.

After 20 minutes the home side kicked a penalty when three of the Norwich backs were caught offside but this was the last time the home side were in touching distance of their visitors.

Six minutes later an inside break by centre Nick Austin led to him scoring a try near the Wymondham posts which was converted, taking the score to 12-3.

Within three minutes Wheater scored again in the right-hand corner, giving Norwich a 17-3 advantage that remained until half-time.

Seven minutes into the second half prop Matt Selby scored from a driving maul after a lineout close to the Wymondham line and four minutes later Michael Campton-Smith added another and the score had moved to 27-3.

Following a brief scoreless period Wheater completed his hat-trick in the 25th minute of the half after a break by Campton-Smith that scrum-half Ben Girling converted.

Five minutes later a quick tap penalty reached Norwich captain Gareth Leake, who took advantage of the home side's assumption that the ball would be passed wide to gallop through the remainder of their defence from 30 metres. Girling again converted.

Two minutes later a Wymondham forward was shown a yellow card by the referee and two minutes later Wheater scored his fourth try, this time on the left wing, after a break by full-back Chris Parrott who almost made the line but needed Wheater to finish off.

In the last minute of the game No8, David Byrne made a searing break and, after all the hard work had been done, a misunderstanding with Parrott meant the opportunity to finish the move off was lost.

Shortly afterwards, a Wymondham infringement on their try line was deemed to be the only reason why another try was not scored by Norwich and the referee awarded a penalty try which Girling again converted.

Although the 53-3 scoreline was emphatic enough Norwich will be dissatisfied with certain aspects of their game and the coaches will be working on them this week before their tough league fixture against Campion next Saturday.

• North Norfolk rivals North Walsham and Holt will meet in the semi-finals of the Woodforde's Norfolk Senior Cup.

The pair will face off at Scottow in the new year following yesterday's draw, with Norwich playing host to Diss in the other match.

In the Junior Cup, Crusaders will entertain Dereham while Broadland-Great Yarmouth will play host to Fakenham.

In the Junior Plate the two semi-finals are Beccles II v Diss II and Holt II v Wymondham II.