England winger James Simpson-Daniel has won 10 caps for his country
James Simpson-Daniel ran in the only try of the night as Gloucester glossed over an ugly display in western France.
Stung by Benjamin Dambielle's penalty, Simpson-Daniel's try, improved by Nicky Robinson, earned a 7-3 half-time lead.
After Robinson's two missed penalties, replacement Freddie Burns then had more success with the boot, landing two penalties to open up a 13-3 lead.
But Dambielle's second penalty could not prevent the Cherry and Whites' second European Challenge Cup win.
The hard-fought win leaves Bryan Redpath's men just one point behind their main rivals at the top of the Pool 5 table.
Gloucester boss Bryan Redpath told BBC Radio Gloucestershire: "The big emphasis is on the management of the game, you must have a strong structure and a strong belief and I was delighted with the way the boys stuck at it.
"There's been talk about us not being competitive away from home but I think we were solid today which enabled us to go on and win.
"We caused them some problems, there were two or three chances for us to score that we didn't take because some of our control of possession was a little bit erratic."
La Rochelle: Goosen, Le Bourhis, Combezou, Devade, Ninard, Dambielle, Neveu, Carmignani, Jacob, Djebaili, Grobler, Mohr, Garcia, Bordoy, Bares.
Replacements: D'Aram for Garcia (50), Frou for Bares (22). Not Used: Clement, Leupolu, Fa'asalele, Rabeni, Roux, Tales.
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