New Zealand has one hand on the Rusty Robertson trophy after day two of the Australian Youth Cup.

New Zealand dominated racing at the annual interstate and international regatta, taking gold in each of the day’s five A Finals.

The Kiwis took out the men’s Four ahead of NSW, the crew of Moss, Longuet- Higgins, Van Velthooven and Haldane outpacing the NSW crew of Koster, White, Gunton and Hargreaves by 3.78secs at the 2000m mark.

The New Zealand women’s crew also added to their country’s medal tally, taking gold in the Quad and Four, with the Men’s Double adding another first place finish to their impressive haul.

NSW fared best of the rest at the Sydney International Regatta Centre on Saturday, taking a silver in the Women’s Four and silver again in the Men’s Four.

It is the silver and bronze medal results keeping NSW in touch with the strong Kiwi crew in the medal tally. While New Zealand are runaway leaders in the gold medal count (11), NSW are just four behind in the overall medal score, closing the gap with their international counterparts when it comes to the all-important pointscore and the decision for who will take home the prestigious Rusty Robertson trophy for overall Youth Cup champions.

New Zealand will be gunning for their third consecutive overall win on Sunday, the third and final day of the regatta but NSW, who finished runners up in 2011 by a 20-point margin, will be keen to haul the Kiwis back in with the Eights to race in the morning.

Medal Tally at the end of Day Two:

NEW ZEALAND: 11 gold, four silver, (15 total)

NSW: three gold, four silver, four bronze (11 total)

TASMANIA: two gold, one silver,  (three total)

VICTORIA: one gold, four bronze (five total)

QUEENSLAND: five silver, seven bronze (12 total)

WESTERN AUSTRALIA: three silver, one bronze (four total)

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: one bronze (one total)