tie rod movement

is there suppose to be any rotational play in the tie rod?
mine on my 96 xj can rotate a very slight, but noticable amount

if this needs to be adjusted is it just a matter of tightening hardware?

thanks

rotational (assuming you mean grab TRE and rotate forward/rearward) movement is not as detrimental to operation as vertical movement. Even a "new" TRE can be rotated fore/ aft with enough pressure, but it should have zero up/ down play. The looser it is, the more wear you have in the joint.