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Sumner will start next season with a new-look coaching team across its senior grades after nine coaches and managers stepped down from their roles.
The departures include the entire Christchurch Metro Premier coaching and management team, with head coach Gareth D’Almeida resigning after four years in the role, along with assistants Ben Gorse and Hugh Pyle, manager Keith Tracey and strength and conditioning coach Tom Brian.
The club denies the exodus is the result of internal tensions following a review of team performances.
D’Almeida was also the club’s rugby development officer. He coached the Wave for four years, with the side finishing ninth in the Metro Premier competition this year after reaching the finals in 2024.
He has been part of Sumner for 23 years, originally joining as a player.
D’Almeida took Sumner’s colts side to back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021 before taking over the Wave in 2023.
Also leaving the club are premier reserve forwards coach Michael Jones, colts head coach Mike Tamati and assistant coach Lawrence Babe.
Premier reserve coach Robbie Timo, who has played 501 senior games for Sumner, told Bay Harbour News he had not yet decided what he would do.
D’Almeida declined to say why he had resigned.
The resignations came after a proposal was made to change the coaching structure for the 2027 season.
Club spokesman and vice-president Jim Stenberg confirmed a proposal for a new coaching and management team for the premier grade next season was put to the club about a month before the end of this season.
D’Almeida was invited to submit a proposal of his own but did not, Stenberg said.
Bay Harbour News has been told former All Blacks and Crusaders coach Scott Robertson, a Sumner club stalwart and life member, had input into the club’s future.
Stenberg said that was incorrect, as was a rumour that Robertson could have a role in Sumner’s coaching line-up next season.
The premier-grade coaching and management team for 2027 will be announced in the coming weeks.
“We just need some new energy in there. He’s (D’Almeida) been there for four years and he’s done a great job but we need to look at how we survive here as a small club,” Stenberg said.
He said player retention had been an issue and would be a key focus for the club’s future.
While D’Almeida would not speak to Bay Harbour News, colts coach Mike Tamati did.
Tamati said he left the club over the premier coaching proposal and the way it was handled.
“When they did it was right in the middle of us fighting for play-offs, I just went, ‘you can’t do this’,” he said.
“I run a community programme in the background that’s predicated on trust and integrity, I can’t look these guys in the eye if we’re going to be doing this, so I’m going.”
He said discussion about the coaching proposal spread like wildfire among the playing group, while he was not even aware a proposal had been tabled.
“Everyone’s got to be on the same page. It just didn’t feel like it was getting done,” he said.
The colts finished at the bottom of their group this season.
Premier reserve forwards coach Michael Jones said he left because of internal politics.
“A bit too much politics for me, it got a bit messy,” he said.